SOUTHERN    BRANCH 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


OUTLINE   OF   APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    •    BOSTON  •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA  •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON  •    BOMBAY  •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  LTD. 

TORONTO 


OUTLINE  OF 

APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 


BY 


HENRY   PRATT   FAIRCHILD,    PH.D. 

ASSISTANT  PROFESSOR   OF  THE   SCIENCE   OF   SOCIETY 
IN   YALE  UNIVERSITY 

AUTHOR  OF   "  IMMIGRATION  "    AND    "  GREEK    IMMIGRATION 
TO  THE    UNITED   STATES  " 


Ntfo  If  otfe 

THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1916 

Aft  rigbtt  reterved 


COPYRIGHT,  1916, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  December,  1916. 


JfortoooB 

J.  8.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


TO 

MY  PARENTS 


PREFACE 

THIS  book  is  intended  to  be  just  what  its  title  sug- 
gests—  an  outline  of  applied  sociology.  Dealing  with 
applied  sociology,  it  concerns  itself  but  little  with  ques- 
tions of  origins,  and  devotes  itself  to  facts  rather  than  to 
theories.  Being  an  outline,  it  is  meant  to  serve  rather 
as  a  guide  to  the  study  of  life  in  society  than  as  a  com- 
pendium of  dogmatic  sociological  conclusions  or  a  series 
of  finished  dissertations  on  social  problems. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  work  I  have  been  animated 
by  the  conviction  that  the  time  is  ripe  for  a  more  thor- 
oughly scientific  approach  to  the  solution  of  the  prob- 
lems of  social  advancement.  There  is  too  much  of  a 
tendency  to  treat  each  question  as  a  thing  by  itself,  and 
to  forget  that  life  in  society  is  not  divided  into  water- 
tight  compartments.  I  have  therefore  departed  from 
the  method  of  treatment  customary  in  books  of  this 
order,  and  have  sought  to  take  a  comprehensive  view 
of  the  entire  field  of  social  life  and  social  endeavor,  to 
correlate  in  a  systematic  and  logical  manner  the  mani- 
fold  aspects  of  the  social  organization,  and  to  indicate 
the  actual  interrelationship  between  seemingly  divergent 
departments  of  life.  This  I  believe  to  be  the  true,  and 
therefore  the  scientific  view. 

Accordingly  in  this  book  much  more  emphasis  is  laid 
on  accurate  analysis  and  classification  than  upon  the 
exhaustive  treatment  of  specific  topics.  In  fact,  the 


viii  PREFACE 

handling  of  each  separate  question  is  necessarily  sum- 
mary. I  have  tried  to  indicate  the  salient  features  of 
fact  and  argument  in  each  case,  and  to  point  out  the 
chief  lines  of  investigation ;  I  have  not  tried  to  set  forth 
final  conclusions  together  with  a  mass  of  data  adequate  to 
support  these  conclusions.  If  some  of  the  conclusions 
which  I  state,  or  seem  to  state,  challenge  contradiction 
and  refutation,  that  fact  does  not  detract  from  the  use- 
fulness of  the  book  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  is 
designed. 

Whether  used  as  a  textbook  or  as  a  basis  of  individ- 
ual study,  I  anticipate  that  this  volume  will  render  its 
most  efficient  service  when  used  in  connection  with 
other  books  dealing  in  detail  with  specific  subjects. 
The  list  of  supplementary  readings  is  appended  with 
this  in  mind.  This  list  does  not  constitute  a  bibliog- 
raphy of  the  subject;  a  complete  bibliography  is  obviously 
out  of  the  question.  The  books  listed  are  mainly  books 
which  have  been  of  special  help  to  me  in  prosecuting 
this  study,  and  therefore  either  amplify  the  treatment 
of  the  text  or  furnish  valuable  contrasts  and  different 
points  of  view. 

I  have  profited  greatly  by  the  suggestions  and  criti- 
cisms of  Professor  Albert  G.  Keller,  Professor  Allen 
Johnson,  and  Doctor  Ralph  A.  McDonnell,  to  each  of 
whom  I  hereby  extend  my  hearty  thanks. 

H.  P.  F. 

NEW  HAVEN, 

September,  1916. 


CONTENTS 


PART   I.     INTRODUCTION 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    THE  FIELD  OF  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY  i 

II.    CLASSIFICATION  OF  SOCIAL  PHENOMENA        .  .      12 

III.    TYPES  OF  ABNORMALITY  AND  IMPROVEMENT  .      26 


PART   II.     THE   ECONOMIC   LIFE 

IV.  ECONOMIC  LIFE:   NORMAL  ASPECTS       ...  44 

V.  ECONOMIC  LIFE  :   NORMAL  ASPECTS  (Continued)  .  65 

VI.  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 83 

VII.  PLANS  FOR  RAISING  THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING    .  118 

VIII.  DOUBTFUL  CASES.    ECONOMIC  IMMORALITY  ._       .  138 

IX.  ECONOMIC  INCOMPETENCE.    DESTITUTION      .        .159 

X.  ECONOMIC  MALADJUSTMENTS  AND  REMEDIES         .  181 


PART   III.     THE   GROWTH   OF   POPULATION 

XI.  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  POPULATION  GROWTH    .        .198 

XII.  MARRIAGE  AND  THE  FAMILY 220 

XIII.  MIGRATIONS 229 

XIV.  DISEASE.    DEATH.    DIVORCE         ....  244 
XV.  SEXUAL  IMMORALITY 250 

XVI.  THE  CHILD 265 

XVII.  REVOLUTIONARY  SCHEMES  OF  BETTERMENT  .        .  273 


CONTENTS 


PART   IV.     THE   ESTHETIC   LIFE.     THE   IN- 
TELLECTUAL  AND   SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

XVIII.    THE  ESTHETIC  LIFE 295 

XIX.    THE  INTELLECTUAL  AND  SPIRITUAL  LIFE      .        .315 


PART  V.     CONCLUSION 

XX.    CONCLUSION 325 

REFERENCES 333 

SUPPLEMENTARY   READINGS 339 

INDEX 345 


OUTLINE   OF   APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 


APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  FIELD   OF  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

The  meaning  of  sociology.  Many  efforts  have  been 
made  to  define  sociology  in  a  concrete  phrase  or  sen- 
tence, of  which  the  following  may  be  cited  as  typical : 
"The  science  of  life  in  Society."  1  "The  science  which 
deals  with  human  association,  its  origin,  development, 
forms,  and  functions."  2  "That  study  which  works  out 
scientifically  and  completely  the  laws  and  principles  of 
human  association."  3  "Has  for  its  subject  matter  the 
growth,  development,  structure,  and  functions  of  the 
social  aggregate."  4  "Deals  with  association."  5  "The 
scientific  study  of  society."  6 

From  these  various  definitions,  and  others  like  them, 
one  might  glean  a  general  notion  of  what  sociology  is. 
But  every  one  of  the  foregoing  is  faulty  as  a  defini- 
tion, in  that  it  contains  a  word  analogous  to,  or  derived 
from  the  same  root  as,  the  word  defined.  To  say  that 
sociology  is  the  science  of  society  or  the  study  of 
association  is  like  defining  physiology  as  the  study  of 
the  physique,  or  mineralogy  as  the  science  of  minerals. 
Such  definitions  add  little  to  the  amount  of  knowledge 
possessed. 


2  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

The  following  is  a  suggestive  and  workable  definition 
of  sociology:  sociology  is  the  study  of  man  and  his  / 
human  environment  in  their  relation  to  each  other.  ' 
The  word  study  is  used  instead  of  science,  because  of 
the  prevalent  difference  of  opinion  as  to  whether  or  not 
sociology  can  be  called  a  science  —  a  difference  due  to 
uncertainty  partly  as  to  the  exact  nature  of  sociology, 
and  partly  as  to  the  meaning  of  science.  This  definition 
throws  more  emphasis  than  is  customary  on  man  as  the 
object  of  study,  rather  than  on  any  such  abstract  con- 
ception as  association  or  social  aggregate.  After  all,  it 
is  man  who  makes  society,  and  the  social  aggregate  is 
but  a  conglomeration  of  men.  Man  is  the  beginning 
and  the  end  of  the  social  organization,  and  hence  the 
primary  object  of  study. 

Much  is  said  and  written  in  these  days  about  the  im- 
portance of  environment,  and  its  influence  on  human 
life.  Professor  Ward  said  that  knowledge  of  the  en- 
vironment is  the  most  practical  and  useful  of  all  knowl- 
edge. The  environment  commonly  in  mind  is  the 
physical  environment,  and  the  ultra  school  of  anthro- 
pogeographers  would  have  us  believe  that  this  en- 
vironment is  the  final  cause  and  explanation  of  all  the 
phenomena  of  life.  There  is,  indeed,  no  doubt  that  soil, 
topography,  climate,  etc.,  are  of  profound  importance  to 
man,  through  their  influence  upon  his  character  and 
manner  of  life.  But  there  is  another  environment,  no 
less  important  though  not  so  consciously  perceived  as 
such  —  the  human  environment.  This  consists,  not  of 
rocks,  water,  and  air,  but  of  men,  women,  and  children, 
living  in  contact  with  each  other,  acting  upon  and  re- 
acting against  each  other.  The  influence  of  this  human 
environment,  though  often  unfelt  and  always  intangible 


THE   FIELD   OF  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY          3 

and  elusive,  is  no  less  determinative  than  that  of  the 
physical  environment.  The  fact  that  each  individual 
is  not  only  a  unit  living  in  the  midst  of  an  environment, 
but  also  a  constituent  part  of  the  environment  of  other 
units,  does  not  detract  from  the  reality  of  this  environ- 
mental influence,  but  simply  makes  it  more  complex  and 
mysterious. 

Sociology,  then,  studies  man  as  an  individual  living 
in  the  midst  of  a  human  environment,  and  forming  a 
part  of  the  environment  of  other  individuals.  The  phe- 
nomena which  belong  in  the  sphere  of  sociology  are 
those  which  arise  from  the  fact  of  the  interaction  of 
men  upon  man,  and  man  upon  men.  Nothing  belongs 
strictly  to  sociology  which  would  exist  if  every  human 
being  lived  in  complete  isolation  from  every  other. 
Robinson  Crusoe  on  his  island  furnishes  no  subject 
matter  for  sociology  until  he  is  joined  by  his  man  Fri- 
day. On  the  other  hand,  every  influence,  every  act, 
every  device  or  institution  which  arises  from  the  fact 
that  men  live  in  interrelation  with  each  other  is  proper 
subject  matter  for  sociology,  however  trivial,  indefinite, 
and  insignificant  it  may,  in  itself,  appear.  Thus  anthro- 
pology, while  sometimes  treated  as  a  branch  of  sociology, 
and  sometimes  as  a  major  science  including  sociology, 
in  its  strictest  sense,  has  nothing  to  do  with  sociology  at 
all.  Man  as  an  animal  might  be  studied  in  a  cage, 
removed  from  all  contact  with  others.  It  is  only  when 
he  begins  to  mingle  with  other  human  animals,  and  form 
relationships  and  set  up  institutions,  that  sociology 
begins. 

The  meaning  of  applied  sociology.  If,  then,  this  is 
sociology,  what  is  applied  sociology?  How  does  it  differ 
from  any  other  sort  of  sociology  ? 


4  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

Many,  if  not  most  sciences,  present  two  aspects  or 
departments,  closely  related  to  each  other  but  distinct 
from  each  other.  The  first  department  is  that  which  is 
called  the  theoretic  or  pure  science.  Its  function  is  to 
study  phenomena,  ascertain  facts,  and  establish  laws 
and  principles.  It  has  no  object  in  view  beyond  the 
acquirement  of  knowledge.  The  second  department 
is  the  practical  or  applied  science.  This  division  has 
much  of  the  nature  of  an  art,  its  purpose  being  to  take 
the  facts,  principles,  and  laws  worked  out  by  pure  science, 
and  devise  methods  of  utilizing  them  to  serve  some 
human  purpose.  It  is  "telic"  in  Professor  Ward's 
phraseology. 

In  this  respect  sociology  resembles  the  sciences.  It 
consists  of  two  branches,  pure  or  theoretic  sociology, 
and  practical  or  applied  sociology.  Pure  sociology 
studies  man  in  his  relation  to  his  human  environment  for 
no  other  purpose  than  to  discover  the  principles  which 
lie  back  of  human  association,  to  discern  the  forces  by 
which  the  social  organization  is  built  up,  developed,  and 
held  together,  to  deduce  all  possible  laws  and  generaliza- 
tions as  to  the  nature  of  social  activities.  Pure  sociology 
has  its  eye  neither  on  the  future  nor  the  present,  but  on 
the  past.  It  would  be  content  to  stop  its  investigations 
a  hundred  years  ago,  providing  that  by  that  time  all 
the  essential  facts  could  have  been  ascertained.  Be- 
cause the  forces  of  society  are  most  easily  observed  and 
isolated  where  they  are  reduced  to  their  simplest  terms, 
i.e.  in  the  most  primitive  forms  of  society,  pure  sociology 
devotes  much  of  its  time  to  the  study  of  human  groups 
low  down  in  the  scale  of  culture,  the  barbaric  and  savage 
races  of  the  present,  and  the  prehistoric  societies  of  the 
past,  so  far  as  evidence  exists  for  studying  them. 


THE   FIELD   OF  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY          5 

Applied  sociology,  on  the  other  hand,  seeks  to  serve 
wider  ends  than  the  accumulation  of  knowledge.  It  is 
concerned  less  with  the  ascertainment  of  truths  than  with 
the  utilization  of  truths  to  serve  human  ends.  Applied 
sociology  turns  its  face  not  to  the  past,  but  to  the  present 
and  future,  and  since  the  present  is  but  a  point  of  time, 
preponderantly  to  the  future ;  it  is  not  so  much  concerned 
with  finding  out  why  society  is  as  it  is,  as  with  determin- 
ing how  society  can  be  made  different  from  what  it  is — 
better  than  it  is. 

It  is  evident,  however,  that  applied  sociology  is  im- 
mediately dependent  on  pure  sociology.  Without  the 
theoretic  branch,  the  practical  branch  not  only  would  be 
helpless  —  it  could  not  exist.  It  is  from  pure  sociology 
that  applied  sociology  gets  all  its  knowledge  of  the  funda- 
mental facts,  the  basic  principles  and  laws  which  it  is 
to  utilize  in  accomplishing  its  conscious  purposes.  In 
one  sense,  pure  sociology  is  the  handmaiden  of  applied 
sociology,  but  in  an  even  wider  sense  it  is  the  parent,  the 
creator,  the  sustainer  of  applied  sociology.  Applied 
sociology  needs  continually  to  hark  back  to  the  teach- 
ings of  the  theoretic  branch.  Without  the  parent's 
guiding  hand  it  is  inevitably  doomed  to  wander  blindly 
and  to  grope  ineffectually.  A  large  part  of  the  failures 
and  miscarriages  chargeable  to  the  so-called  "practical" 
sociologists  is  attributable  to  a  faulty  equipment  of 
knowledge  of  pure  sociology,  or  to  a  neglect  to  use  the 
knowledge  possessed. 

Applied  sociology,  then,  has  to  do  with  the  task  of 
examining  the  human  relationships  of  modern  civilized 
societies  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  evaluating  them,  of 
distinguishing  helpful  tendencies  and  forces  from  those 
which  are  pernicious,  and  of  devising  means  to  perpetuate 


6  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

that  which  is  good,  to  eliminate  that  which  is  bad,  and 
to  reshape  the  social  organization  the  better  to  serve 
human  welfare.  Just  as  the  applied  sciences  hi  the 
material  field  seek  to  control  and  direct  the  forces  of 
nature  for  conscious  ends,  so  applied  sociology  seeks  to 
manipulate  social  forces  to  accomplish  human  desires. 
Both  are  absolutely  dependent  on  the  forces  which 
exist;  neither  can  escape  from  the  domination  of  these 
forces,  nor  go  a  step  further  than  the  forces  make  pos- 
sible. But  both  can  control  and  direct  the  forces,  so 
that  they  operate  as  dynamic  agents  for  human  welfare, 
rather  than  as  unconstrained  and  vagrant  powers  of  evil. 

The  goal  aimed  at  by  applied  sociology  in  this  manipu- 
lation of  social  forces  is  concisely  indicated  by  the  term 
utility,  or  the  greatest  happiness  of  the  greatest  number. 
To  increase  the  sum  total  of  human  welfare,  to  make 
life  more  worth  living  to  the  largest  possible  number  of 
the  constituent  individuals  of  society,  to  make  society 
itself  a  more  efficient  agent  of  human  happiness  —  these 
are  the  functions  of  applied  sociology. 

Sociology  and  the  scientific  method.  It  has  been  ob- 
served that  the  claim  of  sociology  to  the  name  of  science 
is  still  unsettled.  But  one  thing  is  certain  —  science  or 
no  science,  sociology  can  be  studied  by  the  scientific 
method.  That  is  the  only  way  by  which  it  ought  to  be 
studied,  and  if  that  is  done,  it  is  of  little  moment  by  what 
name  sociology  is  called.  The  present  outline  aims  to 
present  a  method  of  studying  applied  sociology  accord- 
ing to  the  scientific  method. 

Just  what  are  the  essential  features  of  the  scientific 
method?  They  are  three  in  number.  First,  the 
accumulation  of  facts  by  a  process  of  accurate  and 
unbiased  observation.  Second,  the  arrangement  or 


THE  FIELD  OF   APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY          7 

classification  of  these  facts  according  to  some  predeter- 
mined logical  basis  of  classification.  Third,  the  induction 
from  these  classified  facts  of  general  laws,  principles,  and 
truths.  Any  study  of  applied  sociology  which  promises 
reliable  results  must  follow  this  general  method. 

The  accumulation  of  facts  with  reference  to  the  life  of 
man  in  his  human  environment  by  methods  of  scientific 
observation,  and  with  scientific  ends  in  view  is  of  very 
recent  growth.  Sociology  is  often  called  the  newest 
of  the  sciences.  Man  has  always  been  very  reluctant 
to  regard  himself  as  subject  to  natural  laws,  and  hence 
as  an  object  for  scientific  investigation.  It  was  not  until 
all  the  major  sciences  were  placed  on  a  firm  basis  that  the 
scientific  mind,  looking  about,  like  Alexander,  for  new 
worlds  to  conquer,  suddenly  realized  that  a  great  virgin 
field  lay  practically  untouched  in  the  realm  of  the  social 
forces  and  the  relations  and  institutions  of  organized 
human  existence.  Herein  lies  one  great  explanation  of 
the  unwillingness  to  call  sociology  a  science.  The  in- 
duction has  not  yet  been  carried  far  enough.  Not  enough 
facts  have  been  accumulated,  or  they  have  been  gathered 
by  persons  rendered  incompetent  by  lack  of  knowledge 
or  of  power  of  observation,  or  by  some  prejudice,  bias, 
or  ulterior  motive. 

The  accumulation  of  sociological  data.  Obviously,  the 
sociological  field  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  in  existence 
for  the  ends  of  scientific  exploration,  because  of  its  ex- 
tent, complexity,  and  variety,  and  the  intangible,  elusive, 
even  personal  character  of  many  of  its  data.  No  indi- 
vidual, in  a  lifetime,  can  become  master  of  more  than 
one  very  small  section  of  the  field.  This  is  particularly 
true  of  the  investigations  of  applied  sociology,  because 
its  data  are  constantly  changing,  and  facts  do  not  stay 


8  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

facts ;  one  of  the  most  important  features  of  any  modern 
sociological  investigation  is  the  date.  As  a  result  of 
these  conditions,  for  the  data  of  applied  sociology  we 
are  forced  to  rely  upon  specialists  and  experts.  This 
has  obvious  advantages,  but  it  also  has  drawbacks.  In 
the  first  place,  it  is  often  impossible  to  check  up  and 
verify  the  statements  of  the  expert,  without  engaging 
in  a  process  of  study  virtually  as  extensive  and  thorough 
as  that  which  he  himself  has  pursued,  which  is  usually  im- 
practicable. In  the  second  place,  every  expert  is  but 
human,  and  his  observations  are  very  likely  to  be 
colored  by  his  own  prejudices,  preconceptions,  or  point 
of  view.  The  only  way  to  neutralize  factors  of  this  sort — 
to  eliminate  the  personal  element  —  is  to  have  a  number 
of  investigators  at  work  on  the  same  data.  This,  again, 
is  often  impracticable.  What  happens  in  practice  is 
that  in  the  case  of  the  more  detailed  and  minute  fields  of 
study,  students  in  general  depend  on  the  work  of  one,  or 
a  very  few  investigators,  whose  data  circulate  on  the 
basis  of  their  real  or  assumed  authority  and  reliability. 
A  man  who  has  established  a  reputation  as  an  authority 
on  a  given  subject  might,  if  he  chose,  circulate  very 
glaring  untruths  for  some  tune  before  they  were  dis- 
covered. Fortunately,  such  a  man  seldom  chooses  to 
do  so.  But  it  does  all  too  frequently  happen  that  a  very 
eminent  authority,  through  a  lapse  of  attention,  or  some 
other  oversight,  will  permit  false  statements  to  go  out 
under  his  name,  which  may  pass  current  a  long  time  and 
do  much  harm  before  they  are  detected. 

In  spite  of  these  difficulties,  however,  the  past  few 
decades  have  witnessed  the  piling  up  of  an  extremely 
varied,  valuable,  and  on  the  whole  reliable  mass  of  facts 
with  reference  to  the  relations  of  human  beings  in  modern 


THE   FIELD   OF   APPLIED    SOCIOLOGY          9 

civilized  societies.  All  sorts  of  special  studies  of  in- 
dustries, surveys  of  cities  or  districts,  investigations  into 
housing,  food,  family  relations,  industrial  relations, 
etc.,  are  being  made  every  year,  and  each  one,  if  prop- 
erly done,  adds  something  to  the  inductive  facts  of  ap- 
plied sociology. 

The  classification  of  data.  Having  accumulated  as 
many  facts  as  possible,  the  next  step  in  the  scientific 
method  is  to  classify  these  facts.  This  often  seems 
easy,  and  frequently  is  very  difficult.  At  any  rate  it  is 
necessary.  Professor  Ward  has  said  that  the  essential 
of  all  science  is  the  classification  of  knowledge.  "Science 
...  is  the  coordination,  or,  rather,  the  systematiza- 
tion  of  knowledge."  7  The  first  requisite  for  a  logical 
classification  is  a  basis.  It  must  be  determined  on 
what  principles  of  likeness  or  difference  the  data  are  to 
be  grouped  into  categories.  The  very  fact  of  classifica- 
tion implies  a  general  set  of  likenesses  among  the  data. 
But  it  also  implies  some  minor  differences.  It  is  on  the 
basis  of  these  differences  that  the  data  are  separated 
into  groups.  The  basis  of  classification  is  the  principle  of 
difference  upon  which  the  data  are  to  be  distinguished. 
It  is  evident  that  there  may  be  several  different  bases 
for  the  same  set  of  data,  and  that  therefore  several 
different  classifications  may  be  made.  But  any  single 
classification,  to  be  logical,  must  proceed  upon  the  basis 
of  a  single  sort  of  difference,  so  that  the  classes  may  be 
as  exclusive  as  possible  as  regards  each  other,  and  as 
uniform  as  possible  as  regards  the  units  included  in  each. 

The  following  homely  example  will  serve  to  make  this 
point  clear.  A  man  comes  into  a  grocery  store  and  says, 
"What  kind  of  apples  have  you?"  The  clerk  replies, 
"I  have  summer  apples,  fall  apples,  and  winter  apples." 


io  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

If  the  purchaser  has  in  mind  the  keeping  qualities  of 
the  fruit,  this  may  be  just  the  reply  he  is  looking  for. 
It  is  a  logical  classification,  based  upon  the  time  of  ripen- 
ing, which  in  turn  determines  durability.  But  the  pur- 
chaser may  reply,  "I  care  nothing  about  the  time  they 
ripen;  I  want  them  to  eat  now."  To  which  the  clerk 
replies,  "Very  well,  I  have  sweet,  medium  tart,  and  sour 
apples,"  another  logical  classification  based  on  taste.  Or 
the  purchaser  may  say,  "None  of  this  interests  me.  I 
want  these  apples  to  decorate  a  Christmas  tree."  "  Oh  ! " 
says  the  clerk,  "  then  you  will  be  interested  to  know  that 
I  have  red  apples,  yellow  apples,  and  green  apples."  So 
they  might  proceed  to  an  indefinite  number  of  classifica- 
tions, all  logical  and  each  with  a  possible  utility,  while  all 
the  time  there  may  have  been  only  three  or  four  barrels 
of  apples  in  the  store.  But  if  the  clerk  had  said,  "I 
have  red  apples,  winter  apples,  and  medium  tart  apples," 
his  reply  would  have  been  meaningless,  for  it  would  have 
rested  upon  no  logical  basis  of  classification,  and  a  single 
apple  might  have  possessed  all  the  qualities  mentioned. 

It  would  seem  superfluous  and  trivial  to  expend  so 
much  time  in  elaborating  so  simple  a  point,  were  it  not 
for  the  fact  that  this  point  is  ignored  with  amazing  fre- 
quency by  would-be  scientific  writers,  so  that  many 
books  with  great  inherent  possibilities  are  rendered  al- 
most useless  because  the  neglect  of  the  primary  laws  of 
classification  robs  them  of  all  scientific  character. 

Sociological  induction.  The  third  step  in  the  scientific 
method  is  the  drawing  of  conclusions.  In  the  exact 
sciences,  this  is  the  simplest  part  of  the  whole  pro- 
cedure. If  the  investigation  has  been  thorough  enough, 
and  the  classification  accurate  enough,  only  one  conclu- 
sion is  possible  to  any  competent  mind.  In  chemistry, 


THE  FIELD   OF  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY        n 

for  instance,  if  a  sufficient  number  of  experiments  have 
been  tried  in  putting  acids  and  bases  together,  and  these 
have  been  properly  classified,  every  rational  student 
must  agree  on  the  generalizations  as  to  what  happens 
from  the  combination  of  acids  and  bases.  But  in  so- 
ciology generalization  is  one  of  the  most  precarious  and 
difficult  of  all  the  steps.  Given  exactly  the  same  data, 
two  equally  competent  students  may  reach  diametrically 
opposite  conclusions.  This  is  due  to  the  complexity 
of  the  subject,  and  to  the  difficulty  of  securing  all  the 
data  in  any  case.  Almost  always  there  are  one  or  more 
factors  in  the  problem  which  are  not  clearly  delineated, 
and  while  they  may  seem  of  minor  importance,  they  are 
sufficient  to  preclude  mathematical  precision.  The 
simple  fact  is  that  if  sociology  is  a  science  at  all,  it  cer- 
tainly is  not  an  exact  science.  There  is  still  room  for 
judgment,  discrimination,  even  for  argument,  in  the 
drawing  of  sociological  conclusions.  Perhaps  if  our 
knowledge  were  perfect  and  complete  this  might  not  be 
so,  but  it  practically  never  is,  and  there  is  seldom  hope 
that  it  ever  will  be.  In  brief,  there  is  a  big  personal 
element  in  all  sociological  problems. 

Hence  it  is  fitting  for  the  sociologist  to  avoid  dogma- 
tism in  his  conclusions  as  much  as  possible.  Let  him 
present  all  the  facts  at  his  command,  properly  classified. 
Let  him  point  out  the  arguments  on  this  side  and  on  that. 
Let  him,  if  he  can,  show  how  common  sense  seems  to 
point  in  one  direction  or  the  other.  But  let  him  refrain 
from  the  attempt  to  force  ready-made  conclusions  upon 
others.  Final  judgments  are  possible,  if  at  all,  only 
through  the  consideration  of  a  given  body  of  data  by  a 
number  of  competent  minds. 


CHAPTER  II 

CLASSIFICATION   OF   SOCIAL  PHENOMENA 

The  basis  of  classification.  Since  the  subject  matter 
of  applied  sociology  includes  practically  the  entire  range 
of  conscious  and  volitional  human  activities,  it  is  evident 
that  the  primary  classification  must  rest  upon  some  very 
broad  general  facts.  The  basis  of  classification  upon 
which  social  phenomena  are  divided  into  primary  cate- 
gories must  be  a  difference  in  some  of  the  universal  and 
fundamental  facts  of  human  existence. 

In  seeking  the  soundest  and  most  workable  basis  of 
classification,  recourse  is  to  be  had  to  pure  sociology. 
It  then  appears  that  numerous  different  classifications 
of  social  phenomena  are  possible,  and  have  been  at- 
tempted. For  the  purposes  of  the  present  study, 
the  basis  of  classification  adopted  for  the  primary  group- 
ing is  that  enunciated  and  followed  by  Professor  Sumner, 
viz.  the  type  of  social  force  which  lies  back  of  the  various 
social  activities.  All  human  action  springs  ultimately 
from  the  feelings,  and  the  resultant  social  phenomena  may 
consistently  be  classified  on  the  basis  of  the  feeling  from 
which  they  originate.  According  to  Professor  Sumner 
there  are  four  great  types  of  feeling  in  human  nature, 
and  accordingly  four  great  groups  of  social  activities. 
The  feelings  are  hunger,  love,  vanity,  and  what  is,  in 
its  simplest  form,  the  fear  of  ghosts.  The  activities 
which  result  may  be  enumerated  as  the  self-maintenance 


CLASSIFICATION  OF   SOCIAL   PHENOMENA     13 


of  society,  the  self-perpetuation  of  society,  the  self- 
gratification  of  society,  and  the  mental  reactions  — 
religion,  science,  philosophy,  etc.8 

This  grouping  has  many  advantages.  It  is  simple, 
and  the  basis  of  classification  is  easily  understood.  Yet 
it  is  fundamental,  and  conforms  as  nearly  as  possible 
to  the  requirement  of  a  good  classification  in  providing 
categories  which  are  definite  and  do  not  overlap.  In 
primitive  societies  these  types  of  activities  are  easily 
distinguished,  and  there  is  little  confusion.  In  more 
complex  societies  the  dividing  lines  between  the  classes 
become  somewhat  blurred,  and  there  is  inevitably  much 
overlapping,  but  the  essential  distinctions  still  remain. 
No  matter  how  highly  developed  a  society  may  be,  there 
may  always  be  distinguished  four  fundamental  types  of 
activities  and  relationships,  corresponding  to  Professor 
Sumner's  grouping,  which  may  be  indicated  as  follows : 


BASIS  OF 
CLASSIFICATION  — 
SOCIAL  FORCE 

ACTIVITIES  OF 
PRIMITIVE  SOCIETIES 

AcnvrriEs  or  MODERN  SOCIETIES 

Hunger 
Love 
Vanity 
Fear  of  ghosts 

Self-maintenance 
Self-perpetuation 
Self-gratification 
Mental  reactions 

Economic  life 
Growth  of  population 
Esthetic  life 
Intellectual  and  spiritual  life 

The  foregoing  classification  closely  resembles  that  of 
Professor  Ward,  which  is  also  based  on  the  feelings,  and 
which  in  most  respects  runs  closely  parallel  to  Professor 
Sumner's.9  Professor  Ward's  classification,  however, 
is  much  less  simply  stated,  and  is  also  incomplete  as  it 
lacks  anything  to  correspond  with  "vanity." 

The  economic  life.  Under  the  heading  of  the  economic 
life  belong  all  those  social  activities  in  which  men  engage 


14  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

for  the  sake  of  making  a  living  —  the  pursuit  of  wealth 
in  the  economic  sense.  The  force  called  hunger  includes 
the  impulses  that  demand  clothing,  shelter,  etc.,  as  well 
as  the  craving  for  food.  All  of  the  human  relationships 
which  arise  from  the  fact  of  men  working  together  and 
influencing  each  other  in  the  search  for  a  livelihood  be- 
long in  this  category. 

The  growth  of  population.  The  term  "growth  of  popu- 
lation" includes  not  only  the  family,  the  institution  of 
marriage,  and  sex  relations  in  general,  but  also  all  the 
movements  which  come  under  the  head  of  migrations, 
inasmuch  as  they  are  factors  in  the  growth  of  population. 
In  this  group,  also,  belong  child  problems,  since  the  child 
is  an  essential  part  of  the  family,  and  since  the  growth  of 
population  demands  not  only  that  children  shall  be 
born,  but  also  that  they  shall  be  nourished,  and  grow  up. 
All  the  phenomena  of  disease  and  death  belong  primarily 
in  this  group,  though,  as  will  appear,  some  of  them  have  a 
close  connection  with  other  groups. 

The  esthetic  life.  Under  the  head  of  the  esthetic  life  be- 
long all  those  activities  which  arise  directly  from  the  de- 
sire for  a  sense  of  well-being,  the  pursuit  of  pleasure  for 
its  own  sake.  Everything  which  is  done  for  the  sake  of 
winning  the  approval  of  one's  fellows  is  included  in  this 
class.  Recreation,  as  a  whole,  also  belongs  in  this  group. 

The  intellectual  and  spiritual  life.  The  final  heading, 
the  intellectual  and  spiritual  life,  includes  those  social 
activities  which  arise  from  the  religious  motive  in  the 
broad  sense.  With  the  primitive  man  this  takes  the 
simple  form  of  the  fear  of  ghosts,  and  it  dominates  his 
entire  life.  From  this  humble  beginning  many  diverse 
interests  and  institutions  have  emerged,  and  the  activities 
which  are  grouped  under  this  head  in  modern  societies 


CLASSIFICATION  OF   SOCIAL  PHENOMENA     15 

may  show  slight  resemblance  to  each  other  or  to  the  crude 
forms  of  demon  worship  from  which  they  sprung.  Par- 
ticularly, in  our  day,  we  look  upon  religion  and  science 
as  not  only  separate,  but,  in  the  minds  of  many,  antag- 
onistic interests.  Yet  religion  and  science  have  an 
identical  origin.  The  science  of  the  savage  is  his  religion, 
and  his  religion  is  his  science.  For  science  is  the  attempt 
of  human  beings  to  explain  natural  phenomena,  and  to 
control  natural  forces.  But  in  the  mental  outfit  of  the 
savage  the  notion  of  natural  laws  and  forces,  as  we  now 
conceive  of  them,  has  no  place.  He  explains  everything 
in  terms  of  agency.  When  the  human  agent  is  visible 
or  surmised,  the  explanation  is  obvious.  But  if  there  is 
apparently  no  human  agent,  the  agent  must  of  necessity 
be  one  of  the  denizens  of  the  unseen  world  —  a  ghost  or 
spirit.  So  that  all  of  those  activities  by  which  the 
modern  man  seeks  to  understand  and  control  Nature, 
and  which  we  call  science,  with  the  primitive  man  take 
the  form  of  efforts  to  comprehend  the  ways  and  to  meet 
the  wishes  of  unseen  spiritual  beings.  This  is  religion. 
It  was  not  until  man  had  traveled  far  up  the  pathway 
of  culture  that  a  new  conception  of  the  material  world 
caused  this  great  interest  to  split  into  two  divisions,  which 
have  since  followed  separate  routes,  becoming  ever 
more  divergent  and  distinct.  Accordingly,  in  the  group 
of  intellectual  and  spiritual  social  phenomena  of  modern 
societies  is  to  be  found  a  congeries  of  interests,  institu- 
tions, and  relationships,  which,  if  they  seem  to  have  noth- 
ing else  in  common,  at  least  have  the  same  starting  point. 
The  meaning  of  normal  and  abnormal.  To  separate 
social  phenomena  into  the  foregoing  four  categories  on 
the  basis  of  the  underlying  force  is  only  the  first  step 
in  the  process  of  classification.  Not  all  the  activities 


16  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

of  the  economic  life  are  of  the  same  sort,  nor  are  those 
of  any  of  the  other  great  divisions.  A  further  distinc- 
tion must  be  made  in  order  that  the  data  may  be  handled 
intelligently  and  profitably.  It  was  stated*  that  the 
function  of  applied  sociology  is  to  evaluate  social  relation- 
ships, and  to  select  certain  for  approbation  and  per- 
petuation, and  others  for  disapproval  and  elimination. 
In  carrying  out  this  purpose  it  appears  that  the  phenom- 
ena in  each  of  the  four  chief  divisions  group  themselves 
into  three  main  types,  which  may  be  styled  the  normal 
aspects,  the  abnormal  aspects,  and  the  efforts  toward 
improvement. 

While  the  word  "normal"  carries  a  fairly  definite 
and,  for  the  most  part,  accurate  implication  to  the  mind 
of  any  intelligent  person,  it  is  nevertheless  extremely 
difficult  to  define  in  concrete  terms,  and  in  the  effort  to 
elucidate  it  even  careful  thinkers  are  sometimes  led  far 
astray.  Thus  Dr.  Richard  Cabot,  in  an  article  entitled 
"Why  not  Think  More  Clearly?"  says  "Now,  'normal' 
has  two,  and  only  two,  possible  meanings.  It  can  mean 
the  average  ...  or  it  can  mean  the  ideal." 10  On 
reading  this  passage  the  query  at  once  arises,  if  that  is 
all  the  meaning  to  be  allowed  to  "normal,"  how  comes 
it  that  we  have  such  a  word  and  use  it  so  generally? 
Common  sense  replies  that  there  is,  in  fact,  a  special 
significance  in  the  word  "normal,"  conveyed  by  no  other 
word  in  the  English  language.  As  commonly  used  to 
convey  a  definite  idea,  the  word  "normal"  means  that 
which  is  in  harmony  with  the  general  make-up  and  or- 
ganization of  the  object  under  discussion  —  that  which  is 
consistent  with  other  normal  factors.  We  say  that  the 
normal  temperature  of  a  human  body  is  98.6.  This 

*  Page  5. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF   SOCIAL   PHENOMENA     17 

means  more  than  an  average  of  the  bodily  temperatures 
of  a  large  number  of  people.  It  means  that  that  is  the 
temperature  required  by  the  constitution  of  the  human 
body,  in  order  that  the  various  functions  may  be  per- 
formed satisfactorily.  This  is  a  very  different  thing  from 
saying  that  the  average  height  of  a  male  human  being  is 
five  feet,  six  inches.  We  do  not  speak  of  the  normal 
height  of  people.  There  is  no  normal  stature.  People 
can  live  perfectly  healthy  and  vigorous  lives  whose  height 
ranges  from  less  than  five  feet  to  six  feet  or  more.  So 
with  various  bodily  functions.  We  may  speak  of  the 
average  amount  of  sleep  indulged  in  by  human  beings. 
Arnold  Bennett  thinks  the  average  is  altogether  too  high, 
and  that  a  normal  amount  would  be  much  less.  Further- 
more, what  is  normal  for  one  is  not  for  another.  This 
is  made  evident  by  the  fact  that  we  often  combine  the 
terms,  and  say  "the  average  normal."  It  is  true  that 
the  average  and  the  normal  are  often  the  same,  but  this 
is  only  because  normality  is  a  preponderating  characteris- 
tic of  things.  In  general,  a  condition  is  average  because 
it  is  normal,  not  normal  because  it  is  average. 

The  other  meaning  of  normal  referred  to  by  Dr. 
Cabot,  the  ideal,  may  be  dismissed  even  more  briefly. 
If  normal  meant  ideal,  either  there  would  be  no  nor- 
mality, or  there  could  be  no  possibility  of  progress. 
If  things  were  normal,  it  would  mean  that  the  ideal  had 
been  achieved,  and  any  change  would  be  for  the  worse. 
If,  as  is  much  nearer  the  truth,  there  is  always  the  goal 
of  something  better  ahead,  normality  could  not  exist, 
and  all  life  would  be  abnormal. 

The  normal  aspects  of  society,  then,  are  those  which 
harmonize  with  the  general  organization  of  that  partic- 
ular society.  They  may  not  be  ideal,  and  they  may  not 


i8  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

be  average.  Sometimes  abnormality  is  much  more  com- 
mon than  normality,  and  the  average  would  be  far  from 
the  normal.  It  is  said,  for  instance,  that  the  average 
annual  consumption  of  tobacco  in  the  United  States  is 
5.57  pounds  per  capita.  Yet  no  one  would  want  to  say 
that  it  was  normal  for  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in 
the  country  to  use  5.57  pounds  of  tobacco  every  year. 
Even  if  the  average  were  based  on  the  number  of  those 
who  actually  use  tobacco,  it  would  still  be  far  from 
representing  a  normal  condition.  The  word  normal 
always  carries  a  certain  suggestion  of  welfare,  individual 
or  social.  It  suggests  the  harmonious  working  together 
of  the  parts  of  an  organism.  Many  things  of  an  entirely 
indifferent  nature  may  be  expressed  in  averages  to  which 
the  term  normal  would  not  apply.  Thus,  in  a  certain 
year,  the  average  number  of  buttons  on  men's  waistcoats 
might  be  eight,  but  it  would  be  absurd  to  use  the  word 
normal  in  connection  with  such  a  triviality. 

In  any  society  the  normal  conditions  are  those  which 
are  consistent  with  the  general  social  organization,  which 
tend  toward  smoothness  and  accomplishment,  not 
toward  friction  and  retardation.  It  follows  that  what 
is  normal  in  one  society  is  abnormal  in  another.  In  a 
society  where  bride-purchase  is  the  rule,  it  would  be 
abnormal  for  a  woman  to  give  herself  freely  for  love  of 
a  man,  and  the  fact  that  such  an  act  is  regarded  as  ab- 
normal in  such  a  society  is  evidenced  by  the  scorn  with 
which  the  women  look  upon  a  foreign  woman  who  has 
contracted  a  marriage  according  to  the  American  method. 
Also,  in  a  given  society,  the  normal  is  not  permanent. 
As  societies  evolve  and  develop,  that  which  was  normal 
becomes  abnormal,  and  that  which  was  ideal  becomes 
normal. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF   SOCIAL   PHENOMENA     19 

The  idea  of  normality  becomes  clarified  in  the  course 
of  the  attempt  to  distinguish  the  normal  from  the  ab- 
normal in  the  case  of  actual  social  conditions,  and  no 
further  time  need  be  devoted  to  definition  in  the  present 
connection.  There  is  this,  however,  which  should  be 
said.  Just  because  normal  conditions  are  unobtrusive 
and  regular  they  come  to  be  taken  for  granted,  and  it 
is  often  much  more  difficult  to  discern  and  delineate  them 
than  the  abnormal.  They  make  no  noise  nor  jar,  and 
consequently  they  attract  no  attention.  To  try  to 
describe  the  normal  aspects  of  life  in  one's  society  is  like 
trying  to  tell  how  you  feel  when  you  are  well.  When 
you  are  well  you  don't  feel  at  all.  Yet  for  a  scientific 
applied  sociology  it  is  absolutely  essential  that  the  normal 
aspects  be  fully  grasped.  They  furnish  the  basis  and  the 
background  for  all  study  of  the  abnormal  aspects,  and 
for  all  schemes  of  improvement.  To  ignore  the  normal 
is  just  as  fatal  in  sociology  as  in  medicine.  No  board 
of  medical  examiners  would  think  of  passing  a  candidate 
whose  entire  knowledge  of  the  human  organism  was 
limited  to  diseased  conditions.  Yet  would-be  social  re- 
formers are  by  no  means  rare  who  rush  about  trying  to 
remedy  social  evils,  without  the  slightest  understanding 
of  the  normal  constitution  of  the  society  in  which  they 
live.  In  the  training  of  "practical  sociologists"  alto- 
gether too  much  emphasis  is  laid  on  social  pathology  and 
all  too  little  on  social  anatomy. 

It  frequently  happens  that  the  effort  to  grasp  the 
normal  aspects  of  life  in  one's  own  society  is  greatly  for- 
warded by  comparing  them  with  what  is  normal  in 
another  society,  or  what  was  normal  in  the  same  society 
at  another  epoch.  It  then  becomes  clear  that  what  we 
now  take  for  granted,  and  regard  as  indispensable,  was 


20  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

either  unknown  at  an  earlier  time,  or  was  regarded  as 
aberrant  or  undesirable.  This  process  also  helps  to  a 
realization  of  the  fact  that  what  we  now  consider  the 
foundation  stones  of  organized  society  may  some  time 
be  discarded  as  useless  rubbish. 

The  concept  of  the  mores.  The  normal  aspects  of  life  in 
a  given  society  at  a  given  time  become  embodied  in  a 
set  of  institutions,  ideas,  and  conventions,  the  signifi- 
cance of  which  has  been  clearly  expounded  by  Professor 
Sumner  in  his  discussion  of  the  "mores."  Society 
comes  to  expect  its  individual  members  to  live  their 
lives  in  accordance  with  these  conventions.  Con- 
formity is  taken  for  granted.  The  normal  life,  for  the 
individual,  is  the  life  which  consists  with  the  mores. 

The  abnormal  aspects  of  life  in  society  are  those  which 
are  out  of  harmony  with  the  general  social  organiza- 
tion. They  are  inconsistent  with  the  mores.  It  may 
very  well  be  that,  in  the  abstract,  they  are  preferable 
to  conditions  that  are  normal.  But  they  do  not  fit. 
They  do  not  work  in  that  particular  group.  They  are 
anomalies  or  anachronisms.  The  abnormal  life,  for 
the  individual,  is  that  which  is  lived  contrary  to,  or  in 
violation  of,  the  conventions  of  society. 

Individual  gain  from  abnormal  living.  It  is  often  very 
profitable  for  the  individual  to  live  an  abnormal  life. 
Just  because  society  expects  people  to  conduct  them- 
selves in  certain  ways,  there  is  often  great  gain  to  be  won 
by  acting  differently.  Professor  Giddings  remarks  that 
good  faith  is  an  essential  of  cooperation,11  and  in  fact 
the  whole  social  structure  is  built  upon  the  assumption 
that  men  will  conform.  Organized  life  in  society  would 
be  impossible  if  the  great  majority  of  men  did  not  con- 
form. An  examination  of  almost  any  incident  of  one's 


CLASSIFICATION  OF   SOCIAL  PHENOMENA     21 

daily  routine  will  reveal  how  completely  and  unreservedly 
we  count  on  the  reliability  of  others  —  of  men  in  general. 
We  are  constantly  placing  our  welfare,  our  health,  our 
very  lives  in  the  power  of  other  individuals  whom  we  may 
not  know,  may  not  see,  may  not  even  ever  have  heard  of. 
One  goes  into  a  restaurant,  and  orders  a  meal.  The  viands 
may  not  be  wholly  to  his  taste,  but  at  least  he  expects 
them  to  be  clean  and  wholesome,  and  it  never  enters 
his  head  that  the  cook  may  be  an  expert  poisoner,  work- 
ing with  diabolical  ingenuity  to  see  how  many  lives  he 
may  undermine  in  the  course  of  his  career.  One  buys 
a  ticket  for  a  railroad  journey.  Unless  there  has  hap- 
pened to  be  a  succession  of  recent  accidents,  he  has  no 
thought  of  special  danger.  At  any  rate,  he  unconsciously 
takes  it  for  granted  that  every  individual  connected  with 
the  running  of  that  railroad,  from  the  superintendent  and 
train-dispatcher  to  the  switchman  and  section  hand, 
is  devoting  himself  single-heartedly  to  seeing  that  that 
train  reaches  its  destination  safely.  One  goes  into  a 
haberdashery  and  buys  a  hat.  He  asks  to  have  it 
charged  and  delivered.  When  the  bill  comes,  he  pays 
it  with  a  check.  In  this  simple,  everyday  transaction, 
there  is  a  complicated  chain  of  confidences,  expectations, 
and  dependences.  If  there  were  failure  anywhere  along 
the  line,  the  fundamentals  of  business  life  would  be 
weakened. 

But  because  this  ingenuous  trust  in  others  is  well-nigh 
universal,  those  who  are  unscrupulous  enough,  and  clever 
enough,  may  trade  on  the  faith  of  others  to  their  own 
great  profit,  as  long  as  they  can  avoid  arousing  distrust 
in  themselves  individually.  We  call  them  "confidence 
men."  Check  forgers,  bogus  telephone  men,  dealers 
in  fraudulent  securities,  all  sorts  of  swindlers,  make  their 


22  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

gains  in  this  way.  When  discovered,  they  are  treated 
by  society  with  a  severity  proportioned  not  to  the  con- 
crete loss  they  occasion  to  their  victims,  but  to  the  in- 
jury which  they  do  to  society  by  undermining  its  very 
foundations.  If  any  class  of  men  in  society  occupies  a 
position  of  special  trust  and  responsibility,  any  breach 
of  faith  by  an  individual  of  that  class  is  regarded  as  an 
especially  heinous  offense.  Witness  the  special  horror 
and  wrath  which  the  community  feels  when  a  clergyman 
"goes  wrong"  in  any  particular.  We  call  such  "wolves 
in  sheep's  clothing,"  and  look  upon  them  with  the  utmost 
contempt. 

The  foregoing,  however,  are  not  the  only  types  of  per- 
sons living  an  abnormal  life  in  society.  There  are  others 
who,  with  no  evil  intent  or  purpose  on  their  part,  fail  to 
fulfill  their  part  of  the  reciprocal  obligations  and  services 
which  constitute  organized  social  life.  They  profit  by 
the  organization  of  society  without  giving  anything  in 
return.  They  live  a  life  which,  if  it  were  followed  by  all 
individuals,  would  make  society  impossible.  In  other 
words,  they  are  parasites.  The  common  "bum"  or 
"hobo"  is  the  representative  type  of  this  class,  but  there 
are  many  others.  They  do  not  kill,  steal,  or  defraud 
others.  They  do  no  direct  harm  to  anybody.  But  they 
live  on  society,  without  making  any  return. 

Two  types  of  abnormality.  There  are,  then,  two  dis- 
tinct forms  of  abnormality  in  modern  social  life,  which 
may  be  denominated  "immorality"  and  "incompetence." 
The  principle  of  classification  is  the  moral  constitution 
and  character  of  the  individual.  In  the  case  of  immo- 
rality, the  individual  consciously  chooses  to  live  an 
abnormal  life,  although  his  abilities  fit  him  to  live  in 
conformity.  The  trouble  lies  with  his  motives  and 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SOCIAL  PHENOMENA     23 

purposes.  In  the  case  of  incompetence,  there  is  something 
lacking  in  the  make-up  of  the  individual,  or  in  his  rela- 
tion to  his  human  environment,  so  that  he  cannot  live 
normally,  however  much  he  wishes  to.  If  he  is  really 
incompetent,  the  assumption  is  that  he  is  doing  the  best 
he  can,  but  that  his  best  is  not  good  enough.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  this  classification  implies  the  assumption  of 
free  will,  and  if  free  will  is  denied,  this  division  is  mean- 
ingless, and  breaks  down  entirely. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  the 
question  of  free  will.  In  spite  of  all  the  volumes  that 
have  been  written  on  the  subject,  the  question  is  not 
yet  settled,  and  nothing  would  be  gained  in  this  connec- 
tion by  attempting  to  review  the  arguments  on  both 
sides.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  in  our  practical,  everyday 
lives,  we  all  of  us  act  on  the  assumption  that  we  ourselves, 
and  others  around  us,  possess  something  in  the  nature  of 
free  will,  or  the  power  of  choice.  Particularly,  practical 
sociologists,  those  who  deal  at  first  hand  with  the  actual 
men  and  women  who  embody  social  problems,  con- 
stantly operate  on  the  principle  that  the  ordinary  in- 
dividual has  something  within  him  which  governs  his 
own  conduct,  within  limits  to  be  sure,  but  positively. 
It  is  to  this  something  that  the  social  worker  tries  to 
appeal.  If  any  individual  appears  to  lack  this  faculty, 
he  is  at  once  placed  in  a  special  category  of  abnormality. 

Practically  all  the  coercive  agencies  of  society  act  on 
this  principle.  Suppose,  for  example,  that  on  a  hot 
summer  day,  while  a  group  of  women  and  children  are 
refreshing  themselves  about  a  fountain  in  a  public  park, 
a  man  suddenly  appears,  divests  himself  of  his  clothing, 
and  plunges  into  the  fountain.  The  police  will  be  on 
the  spot  in  an  instant,  and  the  man  will  be  arrested.  He 


24  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

has  committed  an  abnormal  act,  and  society  has  laid  its 
hand  upon  him.  But  the  first  step  taken  after  his  arrest 
will  be  to  determine  whether  or  not  he  is  mentally  re- 
sponsible —  that  is,  whether  he  has  the  ordinary  power 
of  choice.  And  on  the  determination  of  this  question 
will  depend  the  treatment  meted  out  to  him.  If  it  ap- 
pears that  he  is  an  escaped  lunatic,  he  will  be  sent  back 
to  the  asylum.  If  he  has  been  temporarily  deranged  by 
the  excessive  heat,  he  will  be  sent  to  a  hospital.  But 
if,  on  the  other  hand,  his  faculties  appear  to  be  in  good 
working  order,  and  he  has  deliberately  chosen  to  refresh 
himself  in  this  way,  in  the  face  of  all  conventions,  he  will 
be  fined  or  sent  to  jail. 

This  distinction  holds  with  reference  to  practically 
every  form  of  social  injury.  For  instance,  to  deprive 
others  of  their  wealth  without  giving  an  equivalent  is  an 
abnormal  act.  The  burglar  and  the  pauper  both  de- 
prive others  of  wealth  —  the  burglar  by  cracking  a  safe 
and  helping  himself  to  valuables,  the  pauper  by  in- 
creasing the  tax  rate  to  pay  for  his  support.  But  the 
treatment  accorded  them  by  society  is  very  different. 
Again,  the  murderer  and  the  consumptive  both  take 
life  —  the  former  by  putting  arsenic  in  somebody's 
food,  the  latter  by  spreading  contagion.  Both  require 
social  treatment,  but  of  a  very  different  sort.  If  in 
actual  fact  society  made  no  distinction  in  its  estimation  of 
the  thief  and  the  blind  pauper,  of  the  assassin  and  the 
consumptive,  if  it  regarded  them  all  as  possessing  the 
same  degree  of  responsibility  and  hence  the  same  degree 
of  guilt,  and  if  accordingly  it  treated  them  all  according 
to  the  same  principles,  there  would  be  no  ground  for 
distinguishing  between  immorality  and  incompetence. 
But  it  does  not,  and  in  the  ensuing  pages  it  will  be 


CLASSIFICATION   OF   SOCIAL   PHENOMENA     25 

assumed  that  something  of  the  nature  of  free  will  exists, 
and  is  to  be  reckoned  with  as  one  of  the  most  important 
factors  in  solving  social  problems. 

The  foregoing  is  not  the  common  classification  of  the 
abnormal  members  of  society.  Perhaps  the  best-known 
classification  is  that  which  divides  them  into  defectives, 
dependents,  and  delinquents.  This  does  well  enough 
for  some  practical  purposes,  but  it  is  not  scientific,  and 
if  used  as  a  guide  tends  to  obscure  some  of  the  most 
essential  distinctions  which  should  be  made.  It  does  not 
rest  on  a  logical  basis,  and  hence  the  classes  are  not 
exclusive  as  regards  each  other.  The  term  defective 
has  to  do  with  the  intellectual  characteristics  of  the 
individual,  the  term  dependent  refers  to  the  source  of 
his  support,  and  the  word  delinquent  indicates  moral 
obliquity.  In  actual  life,  many,  if  not  most,  dependents 
and  delinquents  are  defective,  and  many  individuals  are 
both  dependent  and  delinquent.  No  scientific  exactness 
is  possible  if  such  an  illogical  classification  is  followed. 

The  first  step  in  the  scientific  analysis  of  the  condi- 
tions of  a  modern  society  is  to  distinguish  the  abnormal 
features  of  its  life  from  those  which  are  normal ;  one  of 
the  next  is  to  determine  what  phases  of  abnormality  are 
to  be  treated  as  immorality,  and  what  as  incompetence. 


CHAPTER  III 

TYPES   OF   ABNORMALITY   AND  IMPROVEMENT 

Three  types  of  immorality.  Since  a  large  part  of  the 
practical  work  of  applied  sociology  consists  in  dealing 
with  immorality  and  incompetence,  it  is  necessary  not 
only  to  understand  clearly  the  nature  of  these  condi- 
tions, but  to  distinguish  the  different  forms  in  which 
they  manifest  themselves ;  for  each  form  of  abnormality 
demands  a  special  treatment. 

As  regards  immorality,  it  appears  upon  analysis 
that  there  are  three  distinct  types  in  modern  society 
—  sin,  crime,  and  vice.  Sin  is  the  broad  term,  and 
includes  all  acts  which  are  contrary  to  the  moral  code 
of  the  society  in  which  a  given  individual  lives.  Every 
society,  as  has  been  noted,  has  its  own  moral  code. 
This  has  been  built  up  gradually  through  the  long  course 
of  social  evolution ;  it  is  not  fixed  and  immutable,  but 
changes  with  changing  conditions,  material  and  spiritual. 
But  at  any  given  time  it  is  absolute,  and  forms  the 
norm  to  which  all  individuals  are  expected  to  conform. 
Every  individual  is  expected  to  live  his  life  in  accord- 
ance with  the  code  of  his  own  society,  and  no  individual 
can  be  expected  to  possess  a  personal  code  different 
from  that  of  his  group.  There  may  possibly  be  some- 
thing in  the  nature  of  an  intuitive  sense  of  right  and 
wrong,  but  as  far  as  definite  acts  are  concerned,  every 
one  of  us  is  dependent  for  his  ideas  upon  the  social 

26 


ABNORMALITY  AND  IMPROVEMENT        27 

environment  in  which  he  is  placed.  Even  the  reformers, 
those  whose  ideals  reach  ahead  of  the  actual,  simply 
build  upon  the  material  furnished  them  by  their  human 
environment.  The  moral  codes  of  no  two  societies 
are  identical,  and  what  is  absolutely  right  in  one  group 
is  absolutely  wrong  in  another.  Whether  there  are 
any  great  fundamental  principles  of  conduct,  the  appli- 
cation of  which  is  universal,  and  which  apply  to  all 
societies,  is  a  fascinating  subject  for  speculation;  but 
as  far  as  actual  conduct  is  concerned,  no  individual 
can  be  expected  to  live  any  differently  from  the  standards 
of  his  group,  and  for.  him  those  standards  constitute 
right. 

Sin.  The  idea  of  sin  usually  has  a  religious  asso- 
ciation, and  sin  is  often  thought  of  as  a  violation  of 
God's  law.  The  reason  for  this  lies  in  the  fact  that 
usually  the  only  formulated  expression  of  the  moral 
code  of  a  society  is  found  in  its  religious  repositories, 
verbal  or  written.  The  nature  of  religion  is  such  that 
as  soon  as  a  principle  of  conduct  becomes  recognized 
by  the  leaders  of  thought  in  a  group,  it  at  once  is  assimi- 
lated into  the  religious  code,  and  thereafter  appears  to 
emanate  from  religious  sources.  The  naive  interpre- 
tation of  moral  and  ethical  codes  is  that  they  are  given 
by  divine  authority.  A  study  of  the  development  of 
culture,  however,  reveals  the  fact  that  the  moral  and 
religious  codes  grow  up  side  by  side,  with  a  constant 
interaction  between  them,  and  that  the  origin  of  rules 
of  conduct  is  almost  always  in  social  usage  or  expediency, 
not  in  anything  in  the  nature  of  divine  revelation.  As 
soon  as  a  principle  of  behavior  becomes  established,  the 
religious  organization  at  once  takes  it  over,  and  it  then 
comes  back  to  the  people  with  added  sanction  and  per- 


28  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

manence.  Religion  tends  to  be  the  repository  of  the 
best  ideals  of  a  group,  but  it  is  seldom  their  originator. 
It  does  not  always  even  represent  the  best.  Occasionally 
religions  lack  the  ethical  element  almost  entirely,  or 
at  least  do  not  present  a  code  as  elevated  as  that  pre- 
scribed by  social  usage. 

The  ideas  of  Christian  peoples  with  reference  to  sin 
are  undoubtedly  largely  derived  from  the  writings  of 
Saint  Paul,  who  makes  some  clear  statements  on  the 
subject.  His  idea,  that  sin  is  the  violation  of  the  law, 
is  clearly  expressed  in  the  following  quotations:  "For 
until  the  law  sin  was  in  the  world ;  but  sin  is  not  imputed 
when  there  is  no  law."  "I  had  not  known  sin,  but  by 
the  law."  "For  without  the  law  sin  was  dead."  "The 
strength  of  sin  is  the  law."  Saint  John  also  says,  "Sin 
is  the  transgression  of  the  law."  The  law  which  these 
writers  had  in  mind  was  the  religious  or  divine  law. 
But  if  for  "law"  we  read  "social  code,"  we  get  a  very 
accurate  description  of  the  nature  of  sin  in  the  sociologi- 
cal sense. 

Sin,  thus,  is  a  very  broad  term.  Including,  as  it 
does,  anything  which  is  condemned  by  the  opinion  of 
one's  group,  it  includes  acts,  words,  and  even  thoughts. 
A  man  whose  outward  conduct  is  perfectly  exemplary 
may  be  a  profound  sinner.  Such  a  man  usually  shows 
himself  up  in  time  for  what  he  is,  and  it  is  because  of 
the  belief  that  certain  thoughts  lead  to  unsocial  action 
that  society  brands  them  as  sinful.  But  any  conduct, 
of  any  sort,  which  is  contrary  to  the  code  of  one's  group 
is  by  definition  sinful. 

Crime.  Crime,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  very  different 
matter.  It  is  concrete  and  definite,  and  consists  only 
of  acts  (including  spoken  words).  Much  effort  has 


ABNORMALITY  AND   IMPROVEMENT        29 

been  expended  to  clarify  the  conception  of  crime,  and 
many  definitions  have  been  offered.  But  the  only 
one  which  seems  to  give  crime  a  definite  and  usable 
signification  is  the  following:  "Crime  is  the  violation 
of  the  established  law  of  the  state."  Many  other  con- 
ceptions of  crime  are  to  be  found  in  the  books  on  the 
subject,  but  they  all  tend  to  confuse  rather  than  to 
illuminate.  Some  writers  treat  crime  as  if  it  were  identi- 
cal with  sin,  and  hence  entirely  lose  the  benefit  of  a 
restricted  conception.  Others  write  of  crime  as  if  it 
must  of  necessity  have  something  of  the  brutal,  bestial, 
or  degenerate  about  it.  Many  of  the  descriptions  of 
the  criminal  have  not  the  slightest  resemblance  to  some 
of  the  most  dangerous  and  guilty  of  modern  malefactors 
—  the  wreckers  of  banks,  and  the  manipulators  of  "pred- 
atory capital."  The  so-called  "natural  crime"  is  not 
an  intelligible  concept. 

Every  developing  society,  very  early  in  its  organiza- 
tion, differentiates  one  special  aspect  of  its  activity 
which  is  known  as  the  state.  The  purpose  of  the  state 
is  primarily  restriction  and  coercion.  It  aims  to  secure 
by  force  or  intimidation  that  compliance  with  the  con- 
ventions of  the  group  which  social  solidarity  requires. 
In  the  pursuance  of  this  end  it  establishes  certain  pre- 
scriptions, perhaps  traditional  at  first,  but  written  in 
time,  which  are  supposed  to  embody  the  rules  of  con- 
duct of  which  the  state,  as  such,  proposes  to  take  cogni- 
zance. These  become  the  law  of  the  land,  and  violation 
of  this  law  is  regarded  as  insubordination  to  the  state, 
and  calls  for  treatment  by  the  state.  It  is  these  viola- 
tions, and  these  only,  that  constitute  crime. 

Since  the  state  takes  no  cognizance  of  thoughts  and 
ideas,  but  only  of  overt  acts,  every  crime  is  an  act. 


30  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

This  act  may  be  inherently  of  a  sinful  nature,  and  gen- 
erally is,  for  most  of  the  acts  which  the  state  picks  out 
for  its  proscription  have  already  been  branded  by  society 
as  sins.  But  a  crime  need  not  necessarily  be  a  sin,  except 
as  violation  of  law  in  itself  is  sinful.  Many  of  our 
municipal  *  ordinances  and  regulations,  such  as  the 
traffic  ordinances,  the  rules  governing  street  peddlers, 
etc.,  deal  with  acts  which  are  neutral  as  far  as  their 
inherent  moral  quality  is  concerned.  Yet  as  soon  as 
the  state  issues  its  fiat,  anti-legal  conduct  becomes  a 
crime.  There  is  also  the  interesting  question  whether, 
on  special  occasions,  the  commission  of  a  technical 
crime  may  not  be  a  highly  meritorious  act.  There  is 
frequent  appeal  to  "the  higher  law."  Perhaps  there 
must  be  some  allowance  made  for  individual  judgment 
as  to  when  laws  may  be  disobeyed.  But  in  modern 
democracies,  the  danger  is  all  the  other  way,  that  the 
common  man,  believing  that  he  is  the  ultimate  source 
of  law,  should  also  conceive  that  he  has  a  corresponding 
right  to  abrogate  the  law  in  his  own  case  at  his  own  dis- 
cretion. Lack  of  reverence  for  constituted  authority  of 
every  sort  is  one  of  the  menaces  to  modern  civilization. 
Since  the  state  is  the  most  concrete,  and  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  universal,  of  the  forms  of  social  organi- 
zation, the  matter  of  crime  has  been  studied  more 
extensively  and  exhaustively  than  almost  any  other 
form  of  antisocial  conduct.  The  literature  of  criminol- 
ogy and  penology  is  voluminous.  Various  theories  of 
the  criminal  have  been  propounded  and  expounded. 

*The  term  "state"  of  course  applies  to  all  forms  of  social  organiza- 
tion for  purposes  of  coercion,  whatever  their  extent.  They  may  be  local, 
municipal,  national,  or  international.  The  fact  that  one  particular 
division  in  a  federation  is  called  a  state  sometimes  causes  confusion. 


ABNORMALITY   AND   IMPROVEMENT        31 

His  existence  has  been  attributed  to  environment  on 
the  one  hand  and  to  heredity  on  the  other.  The  posi- 
tive, or  scientific,  school  of  criminologists,  headed  by 
Lombroso,  has  attempted  to  prove  that  criminality  is 
an  inherent  trait,  due  to  heredity  and  indicated  by 
observable  signs  or  ''stigmata,"  and  that  it  is  bound  to 
find  expression  in  criminal  acts  in  time.  Another  school, 
including  many  prison  officials  and  others  who  are  in 
daily  contact  with  prisoners,  believes  that  criminality 
is  primarily  a  matter  of  environment,  that  the  criminal, 
at  the  time  of  his  first  offense,  is  just  like  anybody  else, 
but  that  circumstances  have  gone  against  him,  or  that 
he  has  been  thrown  in  with  evil  companions,  or  that  in 
some  other  way  fate  has  played  him  a  shabby  trick. 
The  finished  criminal  is  the  product  of  society's  treat- 
ment of  the  first  offender,  and  is  a  very  different  char- 
acter. 

Without  attempting  to  examine  these  various  the- 
ories, it  may  be  said  that  in  the  case  of  a  certain  grade 
of   criminals  —  the   bestial,    violent,    and    inhuman  — 
the  criminal  type  may  be  clearly  distinguished.     But 
in  the  case  of  the  distinctly  typical  modern  criminal  - 
the  one  who  violates  the  advanced  legislation  of  pro- 
gressive states  —  there  may  be  nothing  at  all  except 
his  moral  make-up  to  distinguish  him  from  the  most 
respectable  and  law-abiding  members  of  his  group. 

Vice.  There  remains  the  third  form  of  immorality, 
which  goes  under  the  general  name  of  vice.  Vice  is 
almost  always  sin,  but  it  is  a  specialized  form  of  sin. 
It  is  the  least  social  form  of  immorality.  A  vice  is  a 
practice,  indulged  in  by  an  individual,  which  tends  to 
destroy  the  individual  himself,  or  cause  him  to  degener- 
ate, and  through  him  to  injure  society.  Society  frowns 


32  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

upon  vice,  not  because  it  is  aimed  directly  at  the  life  of 
society,  but  because  society  cannot  afford  to  allow  its 
members  to  undermine  their  own  powers  and  characters, 
and  because  vice,  while  individual  in  its  application,  is 
highly  contagious. 

In  addition  to  its  individualistic  character,  every  typi- 
cal vice  presents  certain  other  distinguishing  features. 
In  the  first  place,  it  arises  from  the  gratification  of  some 
personal  desire,  generally  a  natural  one  in  the  first  in- 
stance. In  the  human  make-up  there  are  numerous 
desires  associated  with  the  performance  of  certain 
necessary  or  beneficial  functions ;  neglect  of  these  desires 
occasions  pain,  while  gratification  brings  pleasure. 
When  the  desires  are  gratified  in  the  legitimate  pursuit 
of  the  useful  end  for  which  they  exist,  conduct  is  strictly 
normal.  But  when  the  desire  is  gratified  solely  for 
the  sake  of  the  attendant  pleasure  there  is  always  the 
possibility  of  a  vice.  Again,  in  the  typical  vice  a  con- 
tinually increasing  indulgence  is  required  to  secure  the 
same  gratification,  either  because  the  organism  becomes 
less  sensitive  to  stimulation  or  because  a  higher  degree 
of  stimulation  is  required  to  occasion  the  same  enjoy- 
ment ;  thus  the  evil  gains  a  stronger  and  stronger  hold 
on  its  victim.  In  the  case  of  some  vices  the  individual 
becomes  so  dependent  on  them  that  to  break  off,  sud- 
denly at  least,  is  more  disastrous  than  to  continue. 
Finally,  as  remarked  above,  the  ultimate  result  of  vice 
is  the  destruction  of  the  individual,  particularly  with 
respect  to  that  power  or  quality  connected  with  the 
gratification  in  question. 

Summing  up,  it  may  be  said  that  sin  is  an  infringe- 
ment of  the  general  moral  code  of  society ;  a  man  could 
not  possibly  be  a  shiner  if  he  had  lived  his  entire  life 


ABNORMALITY  AND   IMPROVEMENT         33 

from  the  moment  of  his  first  consciousness  (if  such  a 
thing  could  be  conceived)  absolutely  apart  from  all 
the  rest  of  humanity.  Crime  is  a  violation  of  the  es- 
tablished laws  of  the  state ;  a  man  cannot  be  a  criminal 
until  his  own  group  has  formulated  some  definite  and 
knowable  rules  of  conduct  which  it  proposes  to  enforce 
by  authority.  Vice  is  the  violation  of  the  constitution 
of  the  individual ;  a  man  could  indulge  in  vicious  prac- 
tices of  one  sort  or  another  if  he  were  living  a  life  of 
complete  isolation.  Briefly  it  may  be  said,  with  all  the 
limitations  which  inhere  in  epigrammatic  statements, 
that  society  makes  sin,  the  state  makes  crime,  and  the 
individual  makes  vice. 

Two  types  of  incompetence:  Incapacity.  Turning 
now  to  the  second  main  division  of  abnormality,  in- 
competence, it  appears  that  it  manifests  two  distinct 
aspects.  It  was  stated  above  that  in  the  case  of  incom- 
petence the  abnormal  individual  is  not  held  personally 
accountable  for  his  failure  to  conform.  We  do  not 
blame  him  for  his  condition  —  we  say  it  is  "not  his 
fault."  There  is  something  lacking  in  his  situation, 
and  this  lack  may  take  two  forms,  which  furnish  the 
basis  for  the  two-fold  classification  of  incompetence. 
There  may  be  something  lacking  in  the  make-up  of  the 
individual  himself,  or  there  may  be  something  wrong 
with  his  relationship  with  his  human  environment. 
The  first  class,  which  may  be  given  the  special  name 
of  "incapacity,"  includes  all  imbeciles,  lunatics,  feeble- 
minded, etc.,  all  who  are  blind,  crippled,  or  deformed, 
all  who  are  hopelessly  ignorant.  Obviously,  incapacity 
may  be  either  physical  or  psychical,  and  it  may  be  cur- 
able or  incurable.  But  in  every  case,  it  is  a  state  of 
unfitness  on  the  part  of  the  man  as  he  is. 


34  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

Maladjustment.  The  other  form  of  incompetence, 
which  may  be  called  "maladjustment,"  does  not  imply 
any  lack  on  the  part  of  the  individual  himself.  He  may 
be  just  as  well  equipped*  for  the  struggle  for  existence  as 
those  around  him,  but  he  has  not  made  the  right  con- 
nection with  his  human  environment.  The  man  is 
all  right,  but  he  is  not  in  the  right  place.  Our  immi- 
grants furnish  abundant  examples  of  this  form  of  in- 
competence. There  are  many  cases  of  aliens  in  the 
United  States  who  are  perfectly  able  to  do  good  and  use- 
ful work,  and  to  fill  a  normal  place  in  society,  who  fail 
to  do  so  because  they  have  not  been  able  in  this  country 
to  establish  the  connections  which  would  enable  them 
to  put  their  natural  abilities  to  service.  Men  of  ability 
and  frequently  of  education  are  found,  sometimes  partly 
or  wholly  dependent,  sometimes  doing  work  of  a  grade 
far  below  their  natural  capacity. 

But  the  foreigner  is  not  by  any  means  the  sole  example 
of  maladjustment.  Our  modern  life,  particularly  our 
modern  city  life,  teems  with  cases  of  this  sort.  Here  is 
a  man,  born  in  a  New  York  slum,  with  all  the  aptitudes 
of  a  natural  farmer,  but  with  no  taste  or  ability  for  the 
few  lines  of  work  that  his  opportunities  open  to  him. 
Here  is  another  who  might  make  a  successful  electrical 
engineer,  but  who  cannot  afford  to  secure  the  necessary 
training,  and  so  lingers  on  at  work  for  which  he  is  not 
fitted,  and  for  which  he  has  no  liking.  All  too  often 
the  boy  or  girl  from  the  lower  walks  of  life  goes  into 
whatever  occupation  first  presents  itself,  and  from 
that  time  on  drifts  from  one  thing  to  another,  never 
having  the  opportunity  to  get  started  in  the  thing  for 
which  he  or  she  is  fitted,  never,  very  likely,  even  know- 
ing what  that  is.  In  all  these  cases,  what  is  needed 


ABNORMALITY  AND  IMPROVEMENT        35 

is  some  method  of  taking  these  people  out  of  the  wrong 
setting,  and  putting  them  in  the  right  one.  The  tend- 
ency of  modern  social  students  is  to  emphasize  the 
importance  of  maladjustments  in  the  social  evils  of  our 
day.  Some  go  to  the  extreme  of  maintaining  that  prac- 
tically all  forms  of  abnormality  reduce  to  maladjust- 
ment, so  that  the  old  notions  of  personal  blame  and 
responsibility  might  be  almost  wholly  discarded.  With- 
out going  so  far  as  this,  it  can  be  safely  said  that  malad- 
justments are  among  the  most  numerous  and  important 
of  all  forms  of  abnormality,  frequently  being  so  extensive 
as  to  include  entire  social  groups  or  classes. 

The  foregoing  classification  of  the  types  of  abnormality 
is  not  artificial,  nor  simply  academic.  It  is  vital  as 
regards  the  nature  of  the  abnormality,  and,  consequently, 
as  regards  the  sort  of  treatment  called  for.  Any  practi- 
cal handling  of  a  case  of  abnormality,  to  secure  the  sound- 
est results,  must  rest  upon  an  analysis  which  follows, 
in  effect,  the  classification  given  above. 

Two  types  of  improvement.  Having  analyzed  the 
normal  aspects  of  a  department  of  social  life,  and  having 
studied  the  abnormal  aspects,  the  next  step  is  to  consider 
the  systems  or  methods  of  improvement  which  belong 
in  that  department.  These  may  have  to  do  with  the 
more  immediate  problems  of  bringing  the  abnormal 
into  conformity  with  the  norm,  or  they  may  reach 
on  further,  and  aim  to  advance  the  normal  into  the 
realization  of  what  is  now  only  an  ideal. 

In  general  two  types  of  remedial  measure  may  be 
distinguished.  The  first,  which  may  be  called  the 
"specific"  type,  deals  with  immediate  and  special  prob- 
lems. Each  social  evil  is  taken  up  as  a  more  or  less 
distinct  phenomenon,  and  the  effort  is  made  to  find  a 


36  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

remedy  which  will  relieve  that  particular  evil.  The 
second,  or  "revolutionary,"  type  includes  those  schemes 
or  devices  which  are  based  upon  the  belief  that  social 
evils  are  too  complex  and  interrelated  to  be  cured  piece- 
meal. There  is  no  hope,  according  to  this  view,  of 
permanently  remedying  the  diseased  conditions  of 
society  by  taking  up  one  thing  at  a  time,  for  the  reason 
that  these  separate  evils  are  merely  symptoms  of  some 
great  weakness  or  unsoundness  which  permeates  all 
society.  Only  by  attacking  the  great  matter  boldly, 
can  relief  be  secured  in  the  minor  matters.  The  motto 
of  the  revolutionary  reformers  might  well  be  the  well- 
known  quatrain  of  Omar: 

"Ah  Love!  could  you  and  I  with  Him  conspire 
To  grasp  this  sorry  Scheme  of  Things  entire, 
Would  we  not  shatter  it  to  bits  —  and  then 
Remould  it  nearer  to  the  Heart's  Desire ! " 

Some  of  the  really  great  problems  of  applied  sociology 
gather  around  the  relative  desirability  of  the  specific 
and  revolutionary  forms  of  remedy. 

The  agencies  of  social  betterment.  Another  of  the 
greatest  problems  of  applied  sociology  has  to  do  with 
the  agency  which  is  to  apply  the  remedy  —  or  the 
aspect  of  social  organization  which  is  to  exert  the  re- 
quired energy.  There  are  two  main  possibilities  — 
one,  official  or  state  action;  the  other,  unofficial  or 
private  action.  This  question  often  becomes  intensely 
practical,  and  much  rivalry  and  bitterness  often  arise 
from  the  conflict  of  interests  between  these  two  phases 
of  social  effort. 

The  treatment  of  sin.  In  general,  the  treatment  of 
sin  as  such  has  come  to  be  left  largely  to  unofficial  agen- 
cies. The  modern  state  seldom  undertakes  to  control 


ABNORMALITY   AND   IMPROVEMENT        37 

non-criminal  sin.  In  fact,  it  is  practically  impossible 
that  it  should.  For  as  soon  as  the  state  takes  cogni- 
zance of  a  sin,  and  puts  it  under  proscription,  it  there- 
upon automatically  becomes  a  crime.  The  family  and 
the  church  are  the  chief  social  agencies  which  undertake 
to  deal  with  sin  as  such. 

The  treatment  of  crime.  The  treatment  of  crime  is 
obviously  a  matter  for  state  action.  Private  agencies 
may,  and  do,  cooperate  in  the  effort  to  lessen  or  eliminate 
crime,  but  the  agencies  dealing  directly  with  it  are  of 
necessity  official.  Because  of  the  nature  of  crime,  its 
relation  to  the  state,  and  its  antiquity  as  a  recognized 
form  of  antisocial  conduct,  the  question  of  the  treat- 
ment of  crime  has  probably  received  more  concrete 
study  than  any  other  form  of  social  betterment.  Penol- 
ogy has  long  been  a  recognized  science,  and  every  state 
has  extensive  and  complex  machinery  for  the  handling 
of  crime.  In  view  of  these  facts,  it  is  astonishing  how 
meager  are  the  results,  and  how  lacking  in  variety  and 
imagination  are  the  practical  expedients  resdrted  to 
by  even  the  most  progressive  states.  The  criminal  pro- 
cedure of  most  states  does  not  reveal  even  a  clear  con- 
ception of  the  purpose  of  punishment.  It  is  taken  for 
granted  that  the  criminal  is  to  be  punished,  but  it  would 
be  the  rare  official  who  could  tell  just  why  he  was  to 
be  punished,  or  explain  clearly  the  end  sought  in  punish- 
ment, or  even  justify  logically  any  particular  form  of 
punishment,  even  the  commonest. 

Historically,  five  chief  theories  of  punishment  have 
been  entertained  by  the  powers  of  the  state,  and 
have  been  held  to  justify  punishment.  These  are 
expiation,  retribution,  deterrence,  reformation,  and 
social  utility. 


38  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

Expiation.  The  theory  of  expiation  accords  with 
the  religious  interpretation  of  sin,  and  the  conception 
of  the  state  as  a  divine  institution.  According  to  this 
view,  the  commission  of  a  crime  involves  a  violation  of 
the  moral  order  of  the  universe.  A  wrong  has  been  done, 
and  before  the  balance  can  be  restored  some  one  must 
suffer  in  proportion  to  the  injury  done.  This  theory 
does  not  furnish  an  exact  guide  for  the  infliction  of  pun- 
ishment, for  the  reasons  that  it  is  impossible  to  measure 
accurately  the  extent  of  an  injury  to  the  moral  law,  and 
that  it  is  equally  impossible  to  measure  the  amount  of 
human  suffering  that  will  make  good  that  wrong.  This 
theory  has  little  weight  now. 

Retribution.  Retribution  also  aims  at  evening  things 
up,  but  in  this  case  it  is  the  evening  up  of  injuries  as 
between  individuals.  This  is  the  old  law  of  retaliation 
-  "an  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth"  -  and 
it  is  possible  of  much  more  accurate  application  than  the 
foregoing.  In  a  crude  state  of  society  it  had  much  to 
recommend  it,  even  before  the  infliction  of  punishment 
was  taken  over  by  the  state  and  was  still  in  the  hands 
of  the  wronged  person  or  his  relatives.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  much  of  this  theory  lingers  on  in  modern 
penal  codes,  and  influences  strongly  the  thought  of  the 
most  civilized  peoples.  It  appeals  to  the  primitive  sense 
of  justice.  Most  of  us  like  to  see  a  man  "get  what  he 
deserves."  But  it  also  fosters  some  of  the  worst  traits 
of  human  character  —  in  particular  revengefulness  — 
and  as  a  tenable  theory  of  punishment  in  modern  so- 
cieties it  has  little  to  recommend  it. 

Deterrence.  By  deterrence  is  meant  the  keeping  of 
people  from  committing  crimes,  and  this  is  probably 
one  of  the  most  universally  held  theories  of  punishment 


ABNORMALITY  AND  IMPROVEMENT        39 

down  to  the  present   time.    A  deterrent  punishment 
operates  in  two  ways,  first  by  deterring  that  particular 
criminal   from   committing  again   that,   or   any   other, 
crime,  and  second,  by  deterring  others  who  are  as  yet 
not  criminals  from  breaking  the  law.     As  to  the  indi- 
vidual criminal,  there  are  two  safe  and  certain  methods 
of  deterrence  —  death,  and  properly  enforced  life  im- 
prisonment.    As  for  others,  all   that  need  be  said  is 
that  deterrent  punishments  all  too  frequently  do  not 
deter.     On  the  contrary,  a  public  execution  for  a  certain 
crime  has  very  frequently  been  followed  by  an  epidemic 
of   that  very   crime   in   the   immediate   neighborhood. 
At  the  same  time,  there  is  little  doubt  that  wisely  con- 
ceived punishments  do  exercise  some  restraining  effect, 
especially  in  the  case  of  crimes  calling  for  deliberation, 
and  particularly  the  gainful  crimes  as  contrasted  with 
the  crimes  of  violence.    The  worst  of  the  theory  of 
deterrence  is  that  it  tends  to  lead  to  a  constantly  in- 
creasing  severity   of  punishment.     The  prevalence   of 
this  theory  in  England  led  to  a  condition,  lasting  well 
into   the  nineteenth   century,   where   over   200   crimes 
were   capital.     The   extremes   to   which   it   may   lead 
were  gruesomely  illustrated  during  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII,  during  which  72,000  persons  are  said  to  have  been 
hanged.     That   this   was,   in   fact,    the   theory   which 
actuated  Henry  is  evidenced  by  the  following   instruc- 
tions sent  out  by  him  to  one  of  his  Dukes,  with  respect 
to  some  people  who  believed  themselves  to  be  at  peace 
at  the  time:  "Our  pleasure  is  (good  old  phrase!)  that 
.  .  .  you  shal,  in  any  wise,  cause  suche  dredfull  execu- 
tion to  be  doon  upon  a  good  nombre  of  thinhabitauntes 
of  every  towne,  village,  and  hamlet,  that  have  offended 
in  this  rebellion,  as  well  by  the  hanging  of  them  uppe 


40  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

in  trees,  as  by  the  quartering  of  them,  and  the  setting 
of  their  heddes  and  quarters  in  every  towne,  greate  and 
small,  and  in  al  suche  other  places,  as  they  may  be  a 
ferefull  spectacle  to  all  other  hereafter,  that  wold  prac- 
tise any  like  mater;  which  We  requyre  you  to  doo, 
without  pitie  or  respecte,  according  to  our  former  let- 
ters; remembring  that  it  shal  be  moche  better,  that 
these  traitours  shulde  perishe  in  their  wilfull,  unkynde, 
and  traitorous  folyes,  thenne  that  so  slendre  punish- 
ment shuld  be  doon  upon  them,  as  the  dredde  thereof 
shuld  not  be  a  warning  to  others."  12 

Reformation.  In  the  theory  of  reformation  is  pre- 
sented one  of  the  most  modern  and  most  tenable  of  the 
principles  of  punishment.  Attention  is  focused  on 
the  criminal,  not  on  the  crime.  The  criminal  act  is  a 
matter  of  the  past,  accounted  for  by  the  constitution 
of  the  criminal.  Whatever  may,  or  may  not,  be  done 
to  rectify  the  wrong,  one  thing  that  must  be  done,  if 
possible,  is  so  to  change  the  nature  of  the  guilty  indi- 
vidual that  he  may  go  back  into  the  world,  no  longer  a 
menace  to  society,  but  a  useful  and  normal  member  of 
his  group.  The  chief  objection  to  the  reformative 
theory  of  punishment  is  that  it  is  not  broad  nor  inclusive 
enough  to  serve  as  the  sole  principle.  In  many  cases 
reformation  appears  to  be  impossible,  and  in  all  cases 
there  are  other  interests  to  be  considered  than  those 
of  the  criminal  himself. 

Social  utility.  The  theory  which  is  coming  to  be 
adopted  by  advanced  penologists  is  that  of  social  utility. 
This  simply  means  that  punishment  is  accorded  strictly 
in  the  interests  of  society,  and  that  therefore  any  sort 
of  treatment  which  promises  to  safeguard  the  highest 
interests  of  society  —  which  of  course  includes  the 


ABNORMALITY  AND   IMPROVEMENT        41 

criminal  —  is  justified.  This  theory  is  therefore  eclectic, 
and  in  practice  becomes  a  composite  of  all  the  best 
features  of  other  theories.  It  is  elastic  and  adaptable. 
It  allows  for  experimentation,  and  avoids  the  inflexi- 
bility and  narrowness  which  come  from  restricting 
action  to  a  single  hard  and  fast  principle.  In  applying 
the  theory  of  social  utility,  it  is  essential  to  remember 
that  no  theory  of  punishment,  and  no  practical  penal 
code,  can  go  too  far  in  advance  of  the  general  thought 
of  the  group.  For  instance,  as  long  as  the  sentiment 
of  vengeance  lingers  on  in  the  minds  of  most  members 
of  a  society,  it  will  not  do  for  the  legal  authorities,  how- 
ever right  they  may  be  in  the  abstract,  to  put  into  prac- 
tice methods  of  punishment  which  entirely  ignore  retri- 
bution. Otherwise,  there  is  danger  that  the  people, 
feeling  that  justice  is  not  being  done  by  law,  will  take 
matters  into  their  own  hands,  and  lawlessness  will 
result.13 

Methods  of  punishment.  As  regards  the  methods  of 
punishment,  the  most  striking  fact  with  reference  to 
modern  societies  is  the  extreme  paucity  of  expedients. 
Having  abandoned  the  more  barbarous  devices  of  tor- 
ture, galley  labor,  etc.,  and  having  found  nothing  to 
take  their  place,  modern  administrators  find  themselves 
restricted  practically  to  three  forms  of  punishment  for 
all  crimes  —  death,  fine,  and  imprisonment.  Since  the 
first  is  inflicted  only  for  murder  in  most  states,  it  comes 
about  in  practice  that  the  only  available  expedients 
for  practically  all  crimes  are  fine  and  imprisonment. 
The  only  possibility  of  variety  is  indicated  by  the  phrase 
"or  both."  Recently,  sterilization  has  achieved  a 
certain  prominence  as  a  form  of  punishment  for  certain 
types  of  criminals,  but  it  has  never  had  any  wide 


42  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

application.  Neither  fine  nor  imprisonment  has  very 
much  to  support  it  on  the  basis  of  any  modern  theory  of 
punishment,  and  when  it  is  recalled  how  nearly  infinite 
are  the  varieties  of  crime  it  becomes  startlingly  clear 
how  slight  are  the  opportunities  for  the  nice  adjustment 
of  the  punishment  to  the  nature  of  the  crime  or  the  char- 
acter of  the  criminal.  Probation,  the  suspended  sen- 
tence, etc.  are  obviously  not  forms  of  punishment,  but 
relaxations  of  existing  forms.  It  is  particularly  notice- 
able in  the  traditional  methods  of  punishment  how  little 
attention  is  given  to  recompensing  the  injured  party. 

The  treatment  of  vice.  As  regards  the  treatment  of 
vice,  it  is  a  great  question  just  how  far  state  action  is 
effective  and  desirable.  Of  course  as  soon  as  the  state 
undertakes  to  control  any  form  of  vice,  it  brings  it 
into  the  category  of  crime.  The  practical  question  is, 
how  far  ought  vice  to  be  made  a  crime  ?  This  is  not  the 
place  to  go  into  a  discussion  of  that  difficult  problem. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  while  the  private  agencies  which 
deal  with  sin  in  general  are  of  especial  efficacy  in  dealing 
with  vice,  there  are,  on  the  other  hand,  many  forms  of 
vice  which  cannot  be  properly  controlled,  not  to  say 
eliminated,  without  some  state  action. 

The  treatment  of  incompetence.  Turning  from  reme- 
dies for  immorality  to  remedies  for  incompetence,  it 
may  be  said  in  general  that  the  problems  of  incompetence 
are  so  varied,  and  opinions  with  reference  to  them  so 
diverse,  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  lay  down  any  gen- 
eral principles  as  to  where  private  action  should  cease, 
and  state  action  begin.  Many  forms  of  incompetence 
are  dealt  with  by  both  types  of  agencies  conjointly. 
As  regards  those  forms  of  incompetence  distinguished 
as  maladjustments,  there  is  a  strong  trend  of  opinion 


ABNORMALITY   AND   IMPROVEMENT        43 

toward  the  view  that  they  are  primarily  due  to  a  faulty 
organization  of  society  as  a  whole,  and  hence  are  to 
be  corrected  only  by  state  action.  Some  of  the  foremost 
of  the  revolutionary  types  of  remedy  aim  to  correct 
the  more  serious  maladjustments  en  masse. 

The  foregoing  pages  furnish  an  outline  of  the  method 
of  analysis  and  study  of  each  of  the  great  departments 
of  social  organization  and  life.  The  first  department 
to  be  examined  in  detail  is  that  which  represents  the 
economic  life  of  a  modern  society. 


CHAPTER  IV 

ECONOMIC  LIFE:   NORMAL  ASPECTS 

The  necessity  of  recognizing  characteristic  normal 
features.  The  first  step  in  the  study  of  the  economic 
life  of  modern  countries,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
sociological  relationships  arising  therein,  is  to  dissect 
and  analyze  its  normal  aspects.  The  purpose  of  this 
analysis  is  to  distinguish  and  delineate  the  features  of 
the  normal  wealth-getting  activities  of  men  which  exer- 
cise a  determinative  influence  on  their  life  together  in 
society.  This,  as  has  been  intimated  with  reference 
to  depicting  normal  aspects  in  general,  is  not  a  simple 
thing  to  do.  A  number  of  equally  competent  persons, 
asked  to  pick  out  half  a  dozen  features  of  the  economic 
life  of  their  society  which  were  of  primary  importance 
in  shaping  the  social  organization,  would  probably 
arrive  at  very  divergent  results. 

General  characteristics  of  the  economic  life.  The  task 
will  be  simplified  by  noting,  first  of  all,  some  of  the  char- 
acteristic features  of  the  economic  life  of  all  societies 
in  general.  This  is  a  matter  of  pure  sociology,  but 
it  is  valuable  as  furnishing  a  foundation  for  the  more  ex- 
plicit study  of  modern  economic  conditions.  Four 
points  stand  out  prominently  with  regard  to  the  eco- 
nomic life  in  general,  (i)  It  is  primary  and  fundamen- 
tal. The  earliest  and  most  insistent  of  the  forces  acting 
upon  the  human  individual  is  hunger,  and  it  remains 

44 


ECONOMIC   LIFE:    NORMAL  ASPECTS        45 

one  of  the  dominating  impulses  of  his  life.  The  satis- 
faction of  bodily  necessities  is  the  basic  activity  of  every 
society.  (2)  It  is  universal.  Every  living  human 
being  must  attend  to  his  bodily  wants,  and  this  means 
that  every  human  being  must  participate  in  the  economic 
life  of  his  society,  either  in  person  or  through  an  agent. 
There  are  periods  in  the  lives  of  all  of  us  when  we  expect 
(not  always  consciously)  that  our  wants  will  be  looked 
after  for  us  by  others.  It  is  a  law  of  normal  animal 
life  that  this  should  be  so.  But  there  is  also  a  period 
in  the  life  of  every  person  who  reaches  maturity  when 
he  is  supposed  to  take  charge  of  the  matter  of  providing 
his  own  sustenance.  Some  individuals  are  placed  in 
such  a  favored  position  that  all  the  active  work  of  pro- 
vision may  be  delegated  to  agents.  Others  are  so  handi- 
capped that  they  can  take  no  part,  not  even  to  the 
extent  of  directing,  in  the  supplying  of  their  bodily 
needs.  This  at  once  places  them  in  the  category  of 
the  abnormal.  But,  old  or  young,  rich  or  poor,  male 
or  female,  every  human  individual  must  have  some  one 
engaged  in  economic  activities  in  his  behalf,  if  life  is 
to  persist.  (3)  The  economic  life  involves  a  struggle. 
Nature  provides  sustenance  in  more  or  less  available 
forms,  but  she  feeds  no  one.  Even  in  those  regions 
where  she  presents  her  most  smiling  face,  and  her  bounty 
seems  most  complete,  some  effort,  however  slight  it  may 
be,  is  required  before  the  gifts  of  Nature  become  avail- 
able for  immediate  human  consumption.  And  in  most 
regions,  and  for  most  people,  the  securing  of  the  daily 
bread  demands  so  much  of  effort  as  to  consume  the 
major  part  of  men's  time  and  energy.  This  struggle 
takes  two  distinct  forms,  which  have  been  called  the 
struggle  for  existence  and  the  competition  of  life.  The 


46  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

struggle  for  existence  is  the  primary  conflict  with  Nature, 
to  make  her  yield  as  much  as  possible  for  man's  enjoy- 
ment. This  is  a  matter  which  interests  each  society 
as  a  whole,  and  in  which  all  the  constituents  of  the  so- 
ciety participate  in  cooperation,  antagonistic  though  it 
may  be  at  times.  Every  member,  every  class,  in  a 
society  has  a  direct  interest  in  prosecuting  the  struggle 
for  existence  of  that  society  with  the  utmost  possible 
vigor  and  effectiveness.  What  each  does  in  this  respect 
helps  all.  The  competition  of  life,  however,  is  a  very 
different  matter.  This  means  the  conflict  between 
individuals,  or  between  classes,  in  a  society  to  see  which 
can  appropriate  the  greatest  portion  of  what  the  common 
efforts  of  all  have  produced.  The  struggle  for  existence 
is  the  conflict  of  men  with  Nature ;  the  competition  of 
life  is  the  combat  of  man  with  men.  It  is  in  the  latter 
that  real  bitterness  and  enmity  arise.  (4)  Because 
of  the  fundamental  character  of  the  economic  life  it 
comes  about  that  in  connection  with  this  group  of  ac- 
tivities have  grown  up  some  of  the  most  important 
and  enduring  institutions  of  human  society.  So  true 
is  this,  and  so  widely  recognized,  that  many  thinkers 
-  Karl  Marx,  par  excellence  —  have  held  that  the  form 
of  the  economic  organization  exercises  an  absolutely 
determinative  influence  on  all  other  human  institutions. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  go  this  far  to  recognize  the  pre- 
dominant importance  of  this  set  of  interests  and  ac- 
tivities. 

Distinctive  features  of  modern  economic  life.  The  task 
of  practical  sociology,  however,  is  to  distinguish  specifi- 
cally those  features  of  the  normal  economic  life  which 
are  particularly  characteristic  of  modern  societies,  and 
which  are  therefore  to  be  reckoned  with  in  understand- 


ECONOMIC  LIFE:    NORMAL  ASPECTS        47 

ing  and  solving  present-day  problems.  A  considera- 
tion of  the  phenomena  in  question  reveals  five  outstand- 
ing features  of  the  economic  organization  of  to-day, 
which  may  be  briefly  summarized  as  follows  :  (i)  Preva- 
lence of  contract,  and  a  corresponding  assumption  of 
individual  initiative  and  responsibility,  in  business  rela- 
tions. (2)  Capitalistic  organization  of  industry,  typi- 
fied by  large-scale  factory  production.  (3)  Extreme 
development  of  transportation,  with  resulting  geo- 
graphical distribution  of  labor.  (4)  Diminishing  rela- 
tive importance  of  agriculture.  (5)  As  a  resultant  of 
the  foregoing,  a  high  degree  of  complexity  and  imper- 
sonality in  business  relations. 

The  significance  of  the  features  just  enumerated, 
common-place  and  matter-of-course  though  they  seem, 
arises  from  the  fact  that  they  are  strictly  modern,  and 
differentiate  the  economic  situation  in  modern  societies 
from  that  of  any  earlier  epoch.  This  fact  becomes 
clearer  upon  comparison  of  the  economic  organization 
of  our  own  society  with  that  of  other  societies  where 
our  commonplaces  were  unknown.  The  best  possible 
comparison  is  that  with  our  own  society,  speaking  in 
general  terms,  at  an  earlier  stage  in  its  development. 
Our  own  society,  here  in  the  United  States,  is  of  course 
only  an  offshoot  of  English  society,  and  many  of  the 
most  significant  comparisons  are  furnished  by  condi- 
tions in  England  in  earlier  centuries. 

Contract  and  individual  responsibility.  First,  as  re- 
gards the  prevalence  of  contract,  and  the  assumption  of 
individual  initiative  and  responsibility  in  business 
dealings.  It  is  necessary  to  turn  back  only  a  few  hun- 
dred years  to  find  a  social  organization  in  England,  as 
well  as  in  other  European  countries,  where  the  idea  of 


48  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

contract,  as  we  know  it,  was  not  only  of  little  impor- 
tance, but  was  hardly  known.  Medieval  economic 
life  took  no  account  of  contract,  but  was  regulated  on 
the  basis  of  custom,  status,  and  mutual  expectation. 
All  society  was  divided  into  classes,  and  there  was  little 
thought  of  leaving  one  class  and  rising  into  another. 
Between  these  classes,  a  complicated  and  intricate,  but 
well-recognized  and  universally  accepted,  system  of 
rights,  duties,  services,  and  obligations  existed.  It 
occurred  to  no  one  that  he  had  any  right,  as  an  indi- 
vidual, to  alter  the  terms  of  his  relationships  with  others 
by  means  of  a  bargain.  Wages,  as  we  know  them, 
scarcely  existed  —  certainly  the  term  "wage  bargain" 
would  have  been  meaningless.  Prices  were  supposed  to 
correspond  with  the  inherent  value  of  an  article;  they 
were  fixed  by  law  at  this  supposed  just  figure,  and  it 
was  both  illegal  and  immoral  to  charge  or  to  pay  a  higher 
price.  The  energy  of  society  was  devoted  to  perpetuat- 
ing and  stabilizing  these  customs,  and  to  preventing 
or  penalizing  any  breach  of  them.  Witness  the  laws 
against  forestalling  and  regrating,  the  laws  fixing  feudal 
dues,  providing  for  the  apprehension  and  return  of 
runaways,  etc. 

It  is  necessary  merely  to  recall  these  well-known  facts 
to  realize  how  tremendous  must  have  been  the  changes 
in  all  sorts  of  human  relationships  when  a  society  con- 
stituted on  the  medieval  plan  developed  into  one  domi- 
nated by  the  idea  of  contract.  For  contract  and  status 
are  the  direct  antitheses  of  each  other.  The  essence 
of  status  is  that  each  individual  should  do  as  individuals 
in  his  position  always  have  done,  and  consequently  are 
expected  to  do.  The  forces  of  society  are  devoted  to 
seeing  that  these  various  obligations  are  fulfilled  accord- 


ECONOMIC  LIFE:    NORMAL  ASPECTS        49 

ing  to  custom.  The  essence  of  contract  is  a  bargain, 
implying  that  each  party  is  free  to  make  any  arrange- 
ment with  the  other  party  that  he  sees  fit,  so  long  as  no 
deception  or  trickery  is  used.  In  a  contract  each  party 
engages  to  render  something  of  value  to  the  other,  his 
obligation  being  contingent  on  the  performance  of  the 
reciprocal  obligation  by  the  other  party.  Society 
concerns  itself  little,  if  at  all,  with  the  terms  of  the  con- 
tract, but  devotes  all  its  energies  to  seeing  that  contracts, 
once  entered  into,  shall  be  performed  according  to  the 
letter  of  the  bond.  On  examination,  it  appears  that 
practically  every  business  dealing  in  modern  societies 
is  in  the  nature  of  a  contract,  and  that  accordingly 
every  individual  is  thrown  on  his  own  responsibility 
in  carrying  on  business  relations.  The  assumption  is 
that  it  is  the  part  of  the  individual  not  to  enter  into 
business  agreements  which  are  not  to  his  interest,  and 
that  it  is  the  part  of  society  to  see  that  obligations,  once 
incurred,  are  fulfilled. 

The  idea  of  natural  liberty.  The  notion  of  contract 
is  obviously  a  correlative  of  the  idea  of  natural  liberty, 
and  the  equality  of  all  men.  For  as  long  as  each  indi- 
vidual is  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  safeguarding 
himself  in  the  terms  of  the  contract,  abstract  justice 
evidently  requires  that  both  parties  in  every  contract 
should  be  on  a  plane  of  approximate  equality  of  knowl- 
edge, power,  and  ability.  For  if  one  party  is  better 
equipped  in  any  way  than  the  other,  he  will  be  able  to 
impose  unjust  terms  upon  the  weaker  one,  and  the  con- 
tract, while  perfectly  legal  and  therefore  enforceable 
by  society,  will  not  represent  exact  justice.  It  is  logi- 
cal that  the  progressive  abandonment  of  the  theories 
of  natural  liberty  and  universal  equality  as  guiding 


50  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

principles  of  statecraft  should  have  been  accompanied 
by  an  increasing  doubt  as  to  whether  universal  contract 
is  the  soundest  basis  for  an  equitable  organization  of 
society,  with  human  beings  constituted  as  they  are. 
In  many  departments  of  economic  life  the  question  is 
being  raised  whether  something  else  —  not  the  old- 
fashioned  status,  of  course,  but  something  new  —  must 
not  speedily  be  substituted  for  free  contract. 

Competition.  A  corollary  of  contract  is  competition, 
and  so  we  find  competition  recognized  as  the  char- 
acteristic —  some  think  the  necessary  and  ideal  —  prin- 
ciple of  business  relations.  This  idea  finds  expression 
in  the  well-known  saying,  "Competition  is  the  life  of 
trade."  This  confidence  in  competition  has  received 
great  support  from  the  doctrine  of  evolution.  It  seems 
to  be  the  "survival  of  the  fittest"  introduced  into  busi- 
ness life.  But  people  are  coming  to  see  that  in  this,  as 
in  many  other  departments  of  life,  even  the  survival  of 
the  fittest  is  not  a  thoroughly  reliable  guiding  principle 
of  life.  For  it  appears  that  in  an  unregulated  competi- 
tion the  fittest  is  frequently  the  fittest  only  for  survival, 
and  not  for  any  other,  and  higher,  human  end.  It 
will  appear  repeatedly,  in  the  following  pages,  that  in 
the  absence  of  social  control,  the  most  undesirable  condi- 
tions are  those  which  are  able  to  maintain  themselves, 
and  to  force  more  desirable  ones  out  of  existence.  The 
industrial  sphere,  as  Cooke-Taylor  has  pointed  out,14 
is  about  the  last  stronghold  of  unregulated  competition, 
and  the  weakening  of  faith  in  contract  has  brought  with 
it  a  corresponding  lack  of  confidence  in  competition 
as  a  safe  principle  of  economic  relations.  Nevertheless, 
contract,  individual  responsibility,  and  competition  are 
still  among  the  chief  foundation  stones  of  the  economic 


ECONOMIC   LIFE:    NORMAL  ASPECTS        51 

edifice  in  which  we  live,  and  they  must  be  reckoned 
with  accordingly. 

Capitalism.  The  second  dominating  feature  of  the 
economic  situation  of  modern  countries  is  capitalistic 
production,  finding  its  fullest  expression  in  the  modern 
factory  system.  This  is  perhaps  the  most  important 
single  fact  in  the  present  economic  organization  of  so- 
ciety. It  is  closely  connected  with  the  entire  develop- 
ment of  western  civilization,  and  is  intimately  connected 
with  the  institution  of  contract.  A  clear  conception 
of  the  normal  aspects  of  economic  h'fe  demands  a  realiza- 
tion of  the  essential  features  of  capitalism. 

Economists  distinguish  three  great  factors  in  produc- 
tion, commonly  designated  land,  labor,  and  capital. 
By  land  is  meant  the  virgin  resources  of  Nature  —  the 
things  which  she  offers  ready  to  hand,  fit  to  be  developed 
and  utilized  for  human  purposes.  This,  of  course,  in- 
cludes everything  on  the  earth's  surface  —  rocks  and 
water,  as  well  as  mere  soil.  Labor  is  human  power. 
It  resides  in  the  native  energies  with  which  men  are 
endowed,  and  it  finds  expression  when  those  energies 
are  exerted  in  the  form  of  work.  Capital,  as  ordinarily 
denned,  consists  of  material  objects,  saved  up  from 
past  production,  and  now  ready  to  be  used  for  the 
satisfaction  of  human  wants  or  for  the  production 
of  further  wealth.  From  the  point  of  view  of  pro- 
duction, evidently  only  the  second  form  of  capital 
is  significant,  and  in  common  language  and  in  many 
textbooks,  the  term  capital  is  restricted  to  this  type 
of  material  objects.  But  it  is  often  impossible  to 
tell  to  which  class  a  given  object  belongs,  until  it  is 
actually  put  to  use.  To  these  three  primary  factors 
is  often  added  a  fourth,  organization,  by  which  is 


52  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

meant  a  combination  of  the  other  three  in  an  effec- 
tive manner. 

Of  the  three  primary  factors  of  production  it  is  evi- 
dent that  land  and  capital  are  much  more  closely  allied 
to  each  other  than  either  is  to  labor.  In  fact,  for  socio- 
logical purposes,  the  distinction  between  land  and 
capital  is  practically  negligible.  Both  are  material 
objects,  useful  for  production,  subject  to  private  owner- 
ship under  modern  codes,  and  capable  of  conferring  upon 
the  owners  certain  benefits,  privileges,  and  immunities 
of  one  sort  or  another.  Labor,  on  the  other  hand,  in- 
heres in  the  human  body,  is  inseparable  from  it,  and  is 
owned  in  modern  societies  only  by  the  "owner"  of  the 
body.*  There  are  strict  limits  to  the  amount  of  labor 
that  any  single  individual  can  contribute  to  the  economic 
forces  of  his  society ;  there  are  almost  no  limits  to  the 
amount  of  land  and  capital  which  may  be  under  the 
ownership  and  control  of  an  individual.  For  the  pur- 
poses of  sociology,  the  significant  distinction  in  the 
forces  of  production  is  that  between  the  forces  owned 
by  an  individual  in  his  own  body,  and  the  forces  owned 
by  him  external  to  his  body.  It  is  a  change  in  the  rela- 
tive importance  of  these  two  categories  in  the  charac- 
teristic production  of  modern  countries  which  is  the 
underlying  feature  of  capitalism,  and  the  explanation  of 
the  social  problems  which  arise  in  connection  with  it. 

Turning  once  more  to  an  earlier  situation,  for  the  sake 
of  comparison,  it  appears  that  English  medieval  society, 
characterized  by  status  and  custom,  was  also  distin- 
guished by  its  dominant  mode  of  production.  This  is 
known  as  the  gild  or  the  handicraft  system.  Under 

*  Though  sold  temporarily  and  under  restrictions,  as  explained  later. 
(See  pages  61-64.) 


ECONOMIC  LIFE:    NORMAL   ASPECTS        53 

this  system  those  branches  of  production  which  belong 
under  the  general  head  of  manufacturing  (a  term  much 
more  applicable,  etymologically,  to  that  system  than  to 
the  present  one)  were  carried  on  in  the  dwelling  house. 
The  workshop  was  the  home.  The  master  was  the  chief 
worker.  His  natural  assistants  were  his  children,  and 
these  were  supplemented  by  other  young  learners,  known 
as  apprentices,  who  were  treated  by  the  master  on  much 
the  same  terms  as  his  children.  The  number  of  these 
helpers  was  limited  by  law,  and  their  treatment  strictly 
defined.  They  were  bound  out  for  a  term  of  years,  usu- 
ally seven,  after  which  they  became  journeymen,  and 
finally  independent  masters.  Wages  played  a  relatively 
unimportant  part  in  this  system.  There  was  no  competi- 
tion between  trades  for  workers,  as  no  worker  could  change 
his  trade.  In  fact,  the  interests  of  the  masters  led  them 
to  seek  to  limit  the  number  of  workers  in  a  trade,  instead 
of  to  increase  it.  There  was  also  little  competition  in 
the  market  between  masters,  as  prices  and  terms  of 
sale  were  fixed  by  custom  and  statute.  About  the  only 
competition  possible  was  in  the  quality  of  the  product. 
There  was  great  equality  between  all  economic  classes. 
Every  master  had  been  an  apprentice,  every  apprentice 
expected  to  be  a  master,  and  most  masters  were  about 
on  an  equality  with  each  other. 

The  altered  relative  importance  of  capital  and  labor. 
The  most  important  distinction  of  all,  however,  in  the 
present  connection,  was  in  the  relative  importance  of 
labor  and  capital  in  the  production  carried  on  under  this 
system.  Capital  held  a  very  subordinate  place.  The 
power  was  applied  ordinarily  by  the  person  working ; 
none  of  the  great  motor  forms  of  capital  was  utilized. 
The  implements  used,  also,  were  for  the  most  part  tools, 


54  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

rather  than  machines,  and  such  machines  as  there  were 
were  very  simple.  The  tendency  of  a  tool  or  simple 
machine  is  to  emphasize  the  importance  of  the  human 
element  in  production;  that  of  a  complex  machine  is 
to  minimize  it.  Thus  the  essential  element  in  this 
type  of  production  was  human  vigor  and  skill.  The 
master  must  know  every  step  in  the  manufacture  of  his 
commodity.  It  took  a  long  time  to  learn  a  trade.  The 
things  which  gave  a  master  superiority  in  his  group  were 
his  knowledge  of  the  fine  points  of  his  trade,  his  intelli- 
gence, and  his  manual  skill  and  dexterity.  The  amount 
and  kind  of  capital  which  he  owned  was  a  relatively 
trivial  matter.  In  brief,  labor  was  a  vastly  more  im- 
portant factor  in  production  than  capital.  The  amount 
of  capital  needed  to  set  a  man  up  as  an  independent 
producer  was  relatively  slight,  and  its  cost  was  so  low  as 
to  oppose  no  barrier  to  almost  any  person  who  had  fitted 
himself  by  training  to  become  an  independent  master. 

The  amount  of  product  which  could  be  turned  out 
by  any  master  was  physically  limited.  It  was  practi- 
cally impossible  to  become  very  wealthy  through 
manufacturing  activities.  Because  of  the  conditions  of 
transportation,  etc.,  the  market  was  a  small  one.  Much 
of  the  production  was  to  order,  and  the  maker  was  held 
directly  responsible  for  the  quality  of  his  goods.  If  the 
newly-purchased  chair  broke  down,  if  the  clock  failed 
to  work,  if  the  harness  would  not  stand  the  strain, 
there  was  no  question  on  the  part  of  the  purchaser  as 
to  where  to  go  to  register  his  complaint.  Under  such 
conditions  permanent  dishonesty  in  production  was 
almost  impossible,  and  everything  tended  to  encourage 
high  quality.  A  man  was  known  by  the  commodity 
he  turned  out  or  the  work  he  did,  as  is  familiarly  evi- 


ECONOMIC  LIFE:    NORMAL  ASPECTS        55 

denced  by  many  of  the  surnames  commonly  met  with 
to-day  —  Tanner,  Dyer,  Fuller,  Weaver,  Smith,  Mason, 
Carpenter,  etc. 

The  outstanding  fact  in  this  comparison  is  that  labor 
was  the  dominant  element  in  production,  and  capital 
was  wholly  subsidiary,  though  of  course  necessary. 
This  fact  made  it  natural  that  the  theory  of  value  com- 
monly accepted  at  the  time  should  be  the  labor  theory 
of  value. 

The  influence  of  the  machine.  It  is  not  necessary  nor 
profitable  in  this  connection  to  review  the  steps  by  which 
the  system  of  production  of  the  middle  ages  developed 
into  that  with  which  we  are  familiar  to-day.  The  facts 
are  known  to  every  student  of  economic  history.  The 
importance  of  the  modifications  involved,  however, 
can  hardly  be  overemphasized.  They  changed  the 
face  of  society  in  England,  and  eventually  in  all  the 
nations  of  western  civilization,  and  have  well  merited 
the  name  "Industrial  Revolution."  These  changes 
had  to  do  with  a  series  of  technical  inventions  and  im- 
provements, connected  with  the  development  of  power 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  mechanizing  of  certain  depart- 
ments of  production,  particularly  the  textile  industries 
at  first,  on  the  other  hand.  The  three  chief  agents 
which  made  them  possible  were  steam,  coal,  and  iron. 
Each  of  these  three  is  indispensable  to  the  fullest  utiliza- 
tion of  the  other  two,  and  every  advance  in  the  mastery 
of  one  has  made  possible  corresponding  advances  with 
reference  to  the  others.  The  dominating  factor  in  the 
whole  proceeding  is  the  machine.  Scarcely  second  to 
it  is  power.  The  two  together  have  reduced  the  im- 
portance of  the  human  element  in  industry  to  the 
merest  shadow  of  what  it  once  was. 


56  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

To  understand  the  nature  of  modern  production,  and 
of  the  social  conditions  which  accompany  it,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  have  clearly  in  mind  the  essential  features  of  a 
machine.  A  machine  is  a  material  device  to  assist  man 
in  the  production  of  wealth.  But  that  is  not  all.  From 
the  tune  when  aboriginal  man  first  seized  a  club  or  stone 
to  assist  him  in  slaying  his  game,  man  has  used  material 
devices  to  further  his  economic  activities.  But  the 
stone  ax  or  flint  scraper  is  not  a  machine.  The  dis- 
tinction between  a  tool  and  a  machine  is  fundamental. 
A  tool  is  a  simple  device,  of  few  parts,  guided  and  con- 
trolled directly  by  the  worker.  It  requires  the  eye  to 
direct  it,  the  mind  to  control  it,  and  power  to  make 
it  effective.  A  machine,  on  the  other  hand,  consists 
of  several  or  many  parts,  operating  together.  It  is 
more  or  less  intricate  and  complex.  But  a  machine  is 
not  simply  a  complicated  tool.  A  machine  is  a  tool, 
plus  something  else.  And  that  something  else  is  a 
substitute  for  human  power  and  intelligence.  Every 
machine  contains  one  or  more  tools,  which  operate 
directly  upon  the  material  concerned.  But  these 
tools  are  now  held  and  directed  by  the  remaining  parts 
of  the  mechanism,  and  it  is  this  combination  of  a  tool 
with  a  controlling  and  directing  device  which  is  the 
essential  feature  of  a  machine.  Add  mechanical  power 
to  put  it  in  movement,  and  the  development  of  the 
machine  is  complete.  The  human  element  has  been 
reduced  to  a  minimum  or  practically  eliminated. 

Under  a  fully  developed  machine  system  the  relative 
importance  of  the  human  and  the  material  elements 
in  production  is  completely  reversed.  It  is  no  longer 
a  trained  human  being,  making  things  with  the  aid  of 
material  devices.  It  is  a  mechanical  device,  making 


ECONOMIC  LIFE:    NORMAL  ASPECTS        57 

things  with  the  aid  of  one  or  more  human  beings  —  ap- 
propriately called  "tenders."  The  machine  does  the 
work  —  the  human  being  feeds,  oils,  adjusts,  or  cleans  the 
machine.  The  success  of  production  depends  much 
more  on  the  ingenuity  and  mechanical  perfection  of 
the  machine,  than  it  does  on  the  skill,  training,  or  intelli- 
gence of  the  human  worker.  A  child  of  ordinary  intelli- 
gence, eight  or  ten  years  old,  with  scarcely  a  week's 
training,  is  competent  to  look  after  many  of  the  most 
intricate  machines.  The  climax  of  the  entire  process, 
the  goal  of  machine  designers,  is  the  automatic  machine, 
which  feeds  itself,  performs  each  operation  in  produc- 
tion, counts  the  product,  wraps  it  up,  and  delivers  it 
ready  to  be  packed.  In  such  a  machine  the  human 
element  reaches  almost  the  vanishing  point. 

The  factory  system.  A  natural  concomitant  of  machine 
production  is  the  factory.  The  term  "factory"  is  a 
difficult  one  to  define,  and  a  hard  and  fast  definition  is 
not  necessary.  But  in  every  true  factory  three  char- 
acteristic features  are  to  be  found.  These  are  (i)  a 
large  number  of  people,  congregated  in  a  definite  place, 
and  engaged  in  production;  (2)  machinery;  (3)  power 
external  to  the  human  body.  True  factories  had  been 
in  existence  long  before  the  Industrial  Revolution,  and 
many  factories  were  in  operation  in  England  side  by 
side  with  home  manufacture.  But  it  was  not  till  the 
invention  of  the  steam  engine,  and  the  development  of 
modern  machinery,  that  the  factory  could  become  the 
predominant  unit  of  production,  and  then  it  was  inevi- 
table that  it  should  become  so.  The  very  nature  of 
machinery  and  external  power  leads  to  a  concentration 
and  centralization  of  production.  Machines  are  expen- 
sive, and  can  be  profitably  employed  only  if  the  product 


58  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

is  large.  Power  can  be  more  economically  supplied  on 
a  large  scale  than  on  a  small  one.  The  expenses  of 
supervision,  and  many  of  the  "overhead  charges"  are 
relatively  reduced  as  the  size  of  the  plant  is  increased. 
Uniformity  of  product,  convenience  of  shipment,  avoid- 
ance of  waste  of  materials,  economy  in  the  purchase  of 
supplies,  and  numberless  other  advantages  are  better 
secured  in  the  large  plant  under  single  management. 
Thus  the  characteristic  mode  of  production  in  modern 
times  is  not  only  machine  production,  but  large-scale 
production,  and  there  arises  what  is  called  the  "modern 
factory  system."  * 

Individualism  and  capitalism  not  identical.  Such  are 
the  essential  features  of  capitalism.  It  is  very  easy 
for  those  whose  human  environment  is  that  typical  of 
western  civilization  to  fall  into  the  way  of  attributing 
to  capitalism,  per  se,  all  of  the  features  which  they 
observe  in  capitalism  as  they  are  familiar  with  it.  This 
often  involves  serious  errors.  For  capitalism,  as  we 
commonly  encounter  it,  is  capitalism  marked  by  private 
ownership.  Because  of  the  dominance  of  individual- 
ism, already  referred  to,  it  transpires  that  almost  all  of 
the  industrial  capital  of  modern  societies  is  owned  by 
private  individuals.  So  generally  are  the  two  factors 
linked  together  that  the  distinction  between  them  be- 
comes almost  obliterated,  and  people  come  to  think 
that  individualism  and  capitalism,  if  not  one  and  the 
same  thing,  are  at  least  inseparably  correlated,  and 
are  necessary  complements  of  each  other.  This  is 

*  How  completely  factory  production  has  become  the  normal  mode 
in  modern  life  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  the  very  worst  industrial 
conditions  are  now  found  where  production  is  carried  on  in  the  home  — 
as  in  sweatshop  labor,  and  other  forms  of  home  work. 


ECONOMIC  LIFE:    NORMAL  ASPECTS        59 

manifestly  a  fallacy.  A  society  can  readily  be  conceived 
where  individualism  prevails  without  capitalism,  or 
where  there  is  capitalism  without  individualism. 
Neither  necessarily  implies  the  other.  Some  of  the 
aspects  of  modern  life  are  due  to  individualism,  some 
are  due  to  capitalism,  and  some  are  due  to  the  combina- 
tion of  the  two.  But  in  all  nations  of  the  character- 
istically western  type,  the  two  have  become  closely 
interwoven,  and  if  it  were  desired  to  express  in  a  single 
phrase  the  dominating  character  of  modern  economic 
life,  it  could  not  be  better  done  than  in  the  term,  "in- 
dividualistic-capitalistic . ' ' 

The  results  of  individualistic  capitalism.  It  will  be 
in  place  to  glance  briefly  at  some  of  the  social  condi- 
tions which  are  the  natural  and  consistent  outcome  of 
an  individualistic-capitalistic  organization  of  industry, 
and  hence  are  to  be  considered  as  normal  in  modern 
societies. 

The  inferiority  of  labor.  The  outstanding  fact  is  that 
those  who  have  nothing  but  the  labor  of  their  bodies 
to  offer  in  the  economic  market  are  in  a  position  of 
marked  inferiority  compared  with  those  who  have  both 
labor  and  capital,  or  even  with  those  who  have  capital 
alone.  Yet  those  who  have  to  depend  on  their  labor 
alone  for  their  subsistence  form  the  majority  of  the 
population  of  modern  countries.  For  the  amount  of 
capital  which  is  of  any  significance  in  modern  production, 
and  which  will  therefore  confer  upon  its  possessor  the 
privileges  of  the  capitalist,  is  very  large.  In  the  days 
of  the  gild  system,  as  has  been  shown,  the  amount  of 
capital  necessary  to  enable  a  workman  to  become  an 
independent  producer  was  very  slight.  Not  so  many 
years  ago  there  used  to  be  a  common  saying,  "It  is  the 


60  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

first  thousand  that  counts."  But  a  single  thousand, 
under  modern  conditions,  does  not  count  very  much  in 
enabling  its  owner  to  lift  himself  from  the  ranks  of  those 
dependent  on  labor.  And  most  laborers  lack  the  thou- 
sand, or  anything  approaching  it. 

The  wage  bargain.  It  thus  comes  about  that  the  bulk 
of  the  productive  capital  of  a  society  tends  to  become 
concentrated  in  the  hands  of  a  small  minority  of  the 
population,  whose  function  in  production  is  primarily 
that  of  the  suppliers  of  capital,  and  who  are  therefore 
known  as  the  "capitalist  class."  An  individual  who 
owns  a  sufficient  amount  of  capital  may  be  assured  of 
a  life  of  comfort  and  ease,  even  though  he  never  does  a 
stroke  of  labor  in  his  life,  nor  possesses  an  amount  of 
intelligence  above  the  minimum  necessary  to  keep  his 
capital  from  being  squandered.  The  fact  that  the 
majority  of  the  capitalist  class  prefers  not  to  live  a  life 
of  indolence,  but  to  do  some  useful  work,  does  not  alter 
the  truth  of  this  statement.  On  the  other  side  is  the 
great  "laboring  class."  Their  ability  to  make  a  living 
depends  on  their  own  native  powers.  Neither  capital 
nor  labor  avails  anything  in  modern  production  without 
the  other.  Each  must  seek  the  other,  and  by  a  com- 
bination of  the  two  wealth  will  be  produced.  Since 
we  live  in  an  individual-contract  era,  this  arrangement 
between  capital  and  labor  takes  the  form  of  a  contract 
between  capital-owners,  acting  as  individuals,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  labor-owners  acting  as  individuals,  on 
the  other  hand.  The  outcome  is  the  modern  "wage 
bargain."  This  wage  bargain  is  the  foremost  of  the 
economic  relationships  between  the  individual  and  his 
human  environment  in  modern  economic  life.  Its 
character  probably  has  a  greater  influence  on  human 


ECONOMIC  LIFE:    NORMAL  ASPECTS        61 

welfare  than  any  other  single  factor  in  the  economic 
field.  It  is  therefore  essential  that  this  character  be 
clearly  understood 

The  nature  of  wages.  Many  and  various  are  the  defini- 
tions of  wages,  and  the  theories  offered  to  explain  their 
nature.  It  is  not  necessary  to  review  them  here.  From 
the  practical  point  of  view  —  that  which  would  appeal 
to  the  laborer  himself,  and  be  understood  by  him  — 
wages  can  most  helpfully  be  regarded  simply  as  a  pur- 
chase and  sale  of  labor.  The  everyday  meaning  of 
most  economic  concepts  becomes  clearer  if  regarded 
in  terms  of  buying  and  selling;  certainly  the  concept 
of  wages  does.  On  the  one  hand  is  the  owner  of  capital. 
This  capital  has  inherent  possibilities  of  creating  wealth. 
But  before  these  can  be  realized,  certain  purchases 
must  be  made.  Some  of  these  purchases  will  consist 
of  other  forms  of  capital  —  raw  materials,  fuel,  etc.  — 
and  others  will  consist  of  labor.  The  raw  materials 
and  fuel  will  be  purchased  from  other  capitalists,  who 
have  those  particular  commodities  to  sell.  The  labor 
will  be  purchased  from  laborers.  Any  practical  factory 
manager  would  subscribe  to  this  interpretation  of  his 
activities  when  he  is  engaging  laborers.  It  does  not 
occur  to  him  that  he  is  "making  advances  to  the  laborer 
to  enable  him  to  subsist  during  the  process  of  pro- 
duction," or  that  he  is  "discounting  the  marginal 
product  of  labor."  He  needs  a  certain  commodity 
in  his  business,  and  he  goes  into  the  market  and 
buys  it  from  those  who  have  it  to  sell,  at  the  best 
terms  he  can  make.  He  contracts  for  a  certain  sort 
of  labor,  for  so  many  hours  per  day,  at  so  much  per 
day,  for  a  fixed  or  indefinite  time.  The  economic 
laws  which  apply  are  those  of  supply  and  demand, 


62  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

modified  as  they  must  be  to  fit  human  labor  instead 
of  material  commodities.* 

The  dominance  of  the  capitalist.  It  was  remarked  in 
an  earlier  paragraph  f  that  whenever,  in  a  free  contract 
between  individuals,  there  is  an  inequality  of  knowledge, 
ability,  or  power  between  the  parties,  the  interests  of 
abstract  justice  are  likely  to  suffer.  The  critics  of  the 
present  wage  system  believe  that  that  is  exactly  the 
situation  in  the  contract  between  capitalist  and  laborer. 
For  in  their  dealing  together,  as  individuals,  the  bal- 
ance of  power  is  all  with  the  capitalist.  The  very 
possession  of  capital  confers  power,  partly  because,  as 
has  been  pointed  out,  it  is  the  dominant  factor  in  modern 
production,  and  partly  because  it  carries  with  it  the 
ability  to  wait.  Also,  the  capitalist  is  usually  the  superior 
of  the  laborer  in  point  of  intelligence,  information, 

*  That  this  explanation  of  wages  is  logical  becomes  clearer  by  noting 
that  the  wages  system  is  simply  the  latest  step  in  a  series  of  forms  of 
labor  ownership.  Under  slavery,  the  very  body  which  furnishes  the 
labor  is  the  property  of  the  owner  —  absolutely,  or  with  restrictions, 
according  to  the  form  of  slavery.  In  the  age  of  feudalism,  the  lord  had 
an  absolute  right  to,  i.e.  owned,  the  labor  of  the  serfs  for  a  stipulated 
time.  The  indented  servants  of  colonial  times  sold  themselves  to  the 
sea  captains,  who  in  turn  sold  them  to  the  colonists,  for  a  limited  period 
of  time.  This  was  practically  temporary  slavery.  The  conditions  were 
more  humane,  perhaps,  than  in  the  case  of  negro  slavery,  but,  while  the 
period  of  sale  lasted,  the  labor  of  the  redemptioner  belonged  to  his  master 
just  as  truly  as  the  labor  of  the  slave  belonged  to  his  owner.  So  under 
the  modern  wage  system  —  sometimes  cynically  called  "wage-slavery" 
—  the  laborer  absolutely  sells  his  labor  to  his  employer  for  a  limited 
period  of  time.  The  conditions  are  fixed  by  law  or  custom,  just  as 
they  are  in  the  case  of  slavery;  the  laborer  sells  his  own  labor  volun- 
tarily, just  as  did  the  redemptioner,  only  for  a  shorter  period  of  time. 
But  once  the  bargain  is  made,  the  labor  belongs  absolutely  to  the  em- 
ployer, and  if  the  laborer  fails  to  deliver  it,  he  defrauds  his  employer  just 
as  truly  as  though  he  had  sold  him  a  certain  quantity  of  potatoes  of  a 
certain  grade,  and  actually  delivered  fewer  potatoes,  or  an  inferior 
quality.  t  See  page  49. 


ECONOMIC  LIFE:    NORMAL  ASPECTS        63 

foresight,  etc.  Thus  the  individual  purchaser  of  labor, 
under  ordinary  conditions,  has  an  immense  advantage 
over  the  individual  seller  of  labor.  To  the  employer 
of  three  or  four  thousand  men,  it  is  a  matter  of  slight 
importance  whether  John  Smith  is  hired  for  a  certain 
job  or  not.  The  employer  will  not  take  time  to  parley. 
If  John  Smith  does  not  like  the  terms  offered,  there 
are  plenty  of  others  ready  to  fill  the  place.  Ordinarily, 
the  business  will  go  on  without  serious  interruption 
even  though  the  place  remains  unfilled  for  some  time. 
But  to  John  Smith  it  is  not  a  matter  of  unimportance 
whether  he  gets  this  job  or  not.  It  may  be  the  first 
opportunity  for  work  that  has  come  to  him  in  days  or 
weeks,  and  it  is  a  question  of  life  and  death,  for  himself 
and  his  family,  whether  he  secures  employment.  So 
it  generally  comes  about  in  practice  that,  in  the  wage 
bargain,  the  employer  makes  the  terms,  which  the 
laborer  is  free  to  take  or  to  leave  as  he  chooses.  He  is 
free  to  leave  them,  but  only  theoretically.  In  real  life, 
he  is  forced  by  necessity  to  take  some  terms,  if  not  those 
of  the  first  capitalist,  then  those  of  some  other.  It  is 
very  rarely  that  John  Smith's  ideas  of  what  is  right 
and  equitable  have  anything  to  do  with  the  decision, 
or  that  he  even  has  a  chance  to  express  them.  Neither 
can  the  capitalist,  of  course,  fix  his  terms  altogether 
arbitrarily.  The  terms  he  offers  will  vary  within  limits 
set  for  him  by  the  conditions  of  the  market,  involving 
many  subtle  factors  which  perhaps  he  understands  but 
little  better  than  John  Smith  himself.  But  among 
those  factors  which  determine  what  he  will  offer  is  that 
very  inequality  of  power  as  between  him  and  the  in- 
dividual laborer,  by  which  the  attainment  of  abstract 
justice  is  impeded. 


64  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  foregoing  discussion  has  to 
do  with  the  capitalist  and  the  laborer  acting  as  indi- 
viduals. What  happens  when  they  cease  to  act  as 
individuals,  and  begin  to  act  in  combination,  will  be 
discussed  in  another  connection. 


CHAPTER  V 

ECONOMIC  LIFE  :  NORMAL  ASPECTS  (continued) 

The  laborer's  lack  of  interest  in  production.  Another 
of  the  results  of  the  factory  system  is  the  almost  complete 
lack  of  interest  in  production  or  in  the  product  on  the 
part  of  the  laborer.  Several  different  features  of  the  sys- 
tem contribute  to  this  result. 

In  the  first  place,  the  laborer  no  longer  has  any  owner- 
ship in  the  product.  Under  the  gild  system  the  finished 
product  belonged  to  the  man  who  had  made  it  —  the 
master.  He  owned  the  house  in  which  it  was  made, 
the  small  amount  of  capital  involved  in  the  manu- 
facture, and  the  raw  materials  from  which  it  was  made. 
At  no  time  during  the  process  of  production  did  it  pass 
from  his  ownership  or  control.  When  it  was  done,  he 
sold  it,  and  the  proceeds  were  his.  His  children,  and 
the  apprentices  who  had  helped  him  of  course  owned 
none  of  the  product.  But  they  were  mere  learners,  and 
as  soon  as  they  became  mature  workers,  they,  too,  owned 
their  products.  Under  the  factory  system,  the  factory, 
raw  materials,  and  finished  product  belong  to  the  capi- 
talist. The  laborer  at  no  time  owns  any  part  of  what  is 
passing  through  his  hands  or  under  his  eye.  Never  can 
he  say,  "This  product,  when  finished,  will  be  mine,  and 
my  rewards  will  depend  on  how  successfully  I  can  dispose 
of  it."  There  is  much  theoretic  discussion  as  to  the 
"  right  to  the  whole  product  of  labor,"  and  much  query- 

F  65 


66  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

ing  as  to  how  much  of  the  product  belongs  to  the  laborer. 
These  questions  never  bother  the  manufacturer  or  his 
employee.  They  both  know  that,  in  actual  fact,  all  of 
the  product  belongs  to  the  capitalist,  and  none  to  the 
laborer.  The  latter  has  sold  his  labor,  and  has  a  right 
to  the  stipulated  payment  therefor.  His  claims  stop 
there.  He  has  no  more  ground  for  assuming  a  part  owner- 
ship in  the  product  than  has  the  man  who  sold  the  raw 
materials,  or  the  land  on  which  the  factory  stands.  Ac- 
cordingly the  laborer  has  little  interest  in  the  product. 

The  second  feature  of  the  factory  system  which  tends 
to  eliminate  interest  in  production  on  the  part  of  the 
laborer  is  the  minute  subdivision  of  labor  which  is  an 
essential  accompaniment  of  machine  production.  A 
machine  may  perform  an  operation  perfectly,  but  it  can 
perform  only  one  operation.  It  has  no  flexibility  or 
adaptability.  Therefore  machine  production  tends  to 
break  up  into  a  series  of  distinct,  well-defined,  uniform, 
and  standardized  operations,  each  performed  by  a 
separate  machine,  or  a  separate  part  of  a  composite 
machine.  And  the  labor  of  the  human  beings,  who  are 
the  machine  tenders,  follows  the  same  course,  and 
tends  to  become  the  repetition,  hour  after  hour,  and  day 
after  day,  of  the  same  minute  operation,  demanded  by  the 
construction  of  the  machine.  The  further  the  develop- 
ment of  machine  production  progresses,  the  more  com- 
plete does  this  subdivision  of  labor  become,  until  even  the 
less  mechanical  branches  of  production  in  great  factories 
become  thoroughly  standardized.  The  result  is  that 
the  actual  work  of  the  typical  factory  laborer  has  abso- 
lutely nothing  in  it  to  arouse  the  interest,  or  stimulate 
the  imagination,  of  the  worker.  The  girl  worker  in  a 
canning  factory  whose  entire  working  time  is  consumed 


ECONOMIC  LIFE;    NORMAL  ASPECTS        67 

in  dropping,  one  after  another,  small  pieces  of  pork  into 
the  top  of  a  can  of  baked  beans,  cannot  be  expected  to 
find  much  pleasure  in  work  for  work's  sake,  nor  can  the 
girl  next  her,  whose  duty  it  is  to  drop  the  round  metal 
caps  on  the  openings  of  the  cans,  ready  for  the  soldering 
machine.  In  many  cases,  the  indifference  of  the  worker 
to  his  product  reaches  the  extreme  of  not  even  knowing 
what  the  finished  product  is  to  be. 

All  this,  of  course,  is  likely  to  have  an  unfavorable 
effect  on  the  quality  of  the  product.  But  even  more  seri- 
ous is  the  effect  upon  the  worker.  Since  the  major  part 
of  the  waking  hours  of  most  people  is  spent  in  labor,  the 
situation  becomes  most  menacing  and  unsatisfactory 
when  there  is  nothing  about  the  labor  itself  which  can 
arouse  the  slightest  interest  in  the  laborer.  The  prime 
requisite  for  a  satisfactory  economic  situation  for  any 
individual  is  that  his  work  should  appeal  to  him,  main- 
tain his  interest,  stimulate  thought  and  attention,  provide 
real  pleasure,  or  at  least  broaden  and  develop  him,  and 
give  him  a  chance  to  express  his  individuality.  That 
sort  of  labor,  however,  seems  to  be  inevitably  denied  to 
most  of  the  workers  under  the  factory  system. 

Centralization  of  production.  The  tendency  toward 
centralization  of  production,  which  characterizes  capi- 
talism, extends  beyond  the  mere  productive  plant  itself. 
It  affects  the  entire  organization  and  management  of 
industry.  Not  only  do  factories  tend  to  become  larger 
and  larger,  but  separate  plants  tend  to  become  com- 
bined under  a  single  management  and  ownership.  The 
result  is  the  enormous  increase  in  combinations  of  all  sorts, 
and  particularly  the  dominance  of  the  trust,  which  marks 
the  present  epoch.  This  tendency  to  combination  is  due 
partly  to  the  fact  that  the  highest  economy  demands 


68  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

production  on  a  scale  so  large  that  the  individual  capital- 
ist cannot  supply  the  necessary  funds,  or  else  does  not 
care  to  risk  all  that  he  has  in  a  single  enterprise ;  com- 
bination also  makes  it  possible  to  utilize  in  production, 
through  the  corporate  form  of  organization,  the  savings 
of  a  large  number  of  individuals,  no  one  of  whom  owns 
enough  to  enable  him  to  become  an  independent  producer. 
This  tendency  is  also  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  com- 
bination fosters  monopoly,  and  monopoly  is  economi- 
cally profitable. 

Combination  in  ownership,  particularly  in  the  form  of 
the  corporation,  carries  with  it  some  undesirable  conse- 
quences. Chief  among  these  is  divided,  and  in  most  cases 
diminished,  responsibility.  It  has  been  remarked  that 
under  the  gild  system  there  was  a  responsible,  indi- 
vidual maker  for  each  product.  There  was  no  question 
where  the  blame  should  lie  if  a  certain  commodity 
proved  faulty.  But  under  our  present  system  it  is 
always  difficult,  and  often  impossible,  to  fix  the  respon- 
sibility on  any  individual  or  individuals.  Suppose  a 
chair,  purchased  at  a  retail  furniture  store,  breaks  down. 
The  customer  naturally  complains  to  the  dealer.  The 
dealer  replies  that  the  chair  was  purchased  from  a  reli- 
able wholesaler,  and  had  no  visible  flaws  when  purchased. 
But  he  will  take  the  matter  up  with  the  wholesaler. 
The  latter  tells  him  that  the  chair  was  purchased  from 
such  and  such  a  furniture  manufacturing  concern,  and 
he  will  take  it  up  with  them.  The  furniture  factory  is 
owned  by  a  corporation,  and  managed  by  a  superintend- 
ent chosen  by  the  board  of  directors.  The  superin- 
tendent shifts  responsibility  from  his  shoulders  by  saying 
that  he  is  under  orders,  and  runs  the  factory  the  way 
the  directors  demand.  The  directors  say  that  they  are 


ECONOMIC   LIFE;    NORMAL   ASPECTS         69 

responsible  for  seeing  that  the  factory  makes  money,  so 
that  dividends  may  be  paid,  and  if  any  fault  is  to  be 
found  with  the  way  it  is  run  recourse  must  be  had  to 
the  stockholders,  whose  representatives  they  are.  But 
the  stockholders  are  a  scattered  body  of  people,  with 
no  common  interests  save  ownership  of  the  same  sort  of 
stock,  distributed  over  the  entire  country,  or  perhaps  in 
foreign  countries.  Ninety-nine  per  cent  of  them,  as  the 
directors  say,  have  no  further  interest  in  the  running  of 
the  factory  or  in  the  quality  of  the  product  than  that 
dividends  shall  be  generous  and  regular.  It  is  impossible 
to  fix  responsibility  on  any  one  of  them.  There  have 
been  abundant  instances  in  the  United  States  in  recent 
years  of  the  extreme  difficulty  of  placing  legal  or  moral 
responsibility  on  any  individuals  in  connection  with 
many  of  our  most  important  industries.  Much  of  the 
outcry  against  trusts  and  "soulless  corporations"  is  due 
to  this  condition. 

The  extent  to  which  this  centralization  of  production 
and  concentration  of  ownership  have  been  carried  in  the 
United  States  is  well  illustrated  by  the  following  figures : 
In  1909  there  were  268,491  manufacturing  establishments 
in  the  United  States.  Of  these  52.4  per  cent  were  owned 
by  individuals,  20.2  per  cent  by  firms,  25.9  per  cent  by 
corporations,  and  1.5  per  cent  by  other  forms  of  owner- 
ship. Thus  only  a  little  over  one  fourth  of  the  total 
number  of  establishments  were  owned  by  corporations. 
But  the  importance  of  this  group  of  establishments  is 
evidenced  by  the  fact  that  they  employed  75.6  per  cent 
of  the  wage  earners,  and  turned  out  79  per  cent  of  the 
product,  measured  in  terms  of  money.  Of  the  total 
number  of  establishments,  i.i  per  cent  turned  out  an 
annual  product  worth  $1,000,000  or  more  each.  This 


yo  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

i.i  per  cent  employed  30.5  per  cent  of  the  total  num- 
ber of  wage  earners,  and  turned  out  43.8  per  cent  of  the 
value  of  the  product.15  The  growth  of  the  large  plant 
is  still  further  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  in  the  last 
sixty  years,  in  spite  of  the  great  increase  of  manufactures, 
the  increase  in  the  number  of  establishments  has  been 
small,  and  in  some  important  industries  there  has  been  an 
actual  decrease.  Thus  in  1850  there  were  123,025  man- 
ufacturing establishments,  as  against  268,491  in  1909. 
In  the  cotton  manufacturing  industry  there  were  1240 
establishments  in  1840,  and  1324  in  1909 ;  in  the  woolen 
manufacturing  industry,  1675  establishments  in  1850, 
and  1214  in  1909;  in  the  iron  and  steel  manufacturing 
industry,  808  establishments  in  1870  and  654  in  I9O9.16 

Modern  possibilities  of  accumulating  wealth  through 
manufacture.  Another  modern  condition  which  was 
impossible  before  the  development  of  the  factory  system 
is  the  possibility  of  amassing  great  wealth  through 
manufacture.  Under  the  gild  system,  as  has  been  shown, 
the  amount  of  product  which  any  master  could  turn  out 
during  a  year  was  strictly  limited  by  physical  conditions, 
and  by  legal  restrictions.  The  physical  limitations  were 
by  far  the  most  important.  No  man,  working  by  himself, 
and  aided  only  by  a  small  number  of  children  and  appren- 
tices, could  possibly  turn  out  goods  enough  to  bring  in 
any  extreme  return.  Only  by  producing  goods  of  excep- 
tional quality  could  he  raise  his  income  much  above  the 
average  for  his  class,  and  there  were  strict  limits  to^.even 
this  possibility.  Comfort  was  possible  to  almost  every 
manufacturer,  but  wealth  to  none.  The  underlying 
reason  was  that  human  skill  and  training  were  the 
essential  factors  in  manufacture,  and  the  amount  of 
either  of  these  which  any  man  may  own  is  strictly  limited 


ECONOMIC  LIFE;    NORMAL  ASPECTS         71 

by  Nature.  But  under  the  modern  system,  the  domi- 
nant factor  in  industry  is  capital,  and  there  is  no  limit 
to  the  amount  of  capital  which  a  man  may  own.  And 
since  capital  commands  labor,  there  is  no  limit  to  the 
amount  of  labor  which  an  individual  may  employ. 
And  since  the  product  of  combined  labor  and  capital 
belongs  to  the  capitalist,  there  is  no  limit  to  the  wealth 
that  the  capitalist  may  accumulate  as  a  result  of  manu- 
facturing activity.  Jonathan  T.  Lincoln  says  that  the 
multimillionaire  is  the  inevitable  result  of  the  industrial 
stage  as  the  trust  is  of  the  first  factory.17  The  "swollen 
fortunes"  of  to-day  are  largely  made  possible  by  the  in- 
dividualistic-capitalistic organization  of  our  industry. 

Long  time  consumed  in  production.  Some  other  fea- 
tures of  modern  capitalistic  production  need  to  be  men- 
tioned. One  of  them  is  the  long  time  often  consumed  in 
the  process  of  production.  While  a  given  operation  is 
performed  by  the  machine  with  lightning  rapidity,  yet 
the  whole  course  of  production  is  broken  up  into  so  many 
stages,  and  these  stages  are  often  so  widely  separated  by 
time  and  place,  that  the  period  which  elapses  between  the 
commencement  and  the  completion  of  an  article  may  be 
much  longer  than  it  would  have  been  in  the  case  of  house 
industry.  The  manufacture  of  an  article  may  be  com- 
menced in  one  part  of  the  country,  and  finished  in  an- 
other, or  even  in  a  different  country.  Partly  manufac- 
tured commodities  form  an  important  element  in  import 
and  export  trade. 

The  speculative  element  in  production.  Also  much  of 
our  modern  production  is  performed  on  the  basis  of  an 
expected  future  demand.  Some  business  is,  of  course, 
still  contracted  for  directly,  but  a  great  deal  of  it  is 
carried  on  in  the  faith  that  the  demand  at  a  future  time 


72  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

will  correspond  to  expectations.  Modern  conditions 
of  business  have  stretched  out  the  connection  between 
demand  and  supply  tremendously.  In  the  fall  of  the 
year  the  drummers  are  out  with  the  samples  of  goods  for 
sale  next  summer  and  spring.  These  goods  are  largely 
already  manufactured.  The  manufacturer  anticipates 
the  demands  of  the  wholesaler,  the  wholesaler,  those  of 
the  retailer,  and  the  retailer,  those  of  the  consuming  pub- 
lic. This  gives  a  highly  speculative  character  to  much 
modern  industry.  The  rewards  of  those  who  can  antici- 
pate a  market  with  accuracy  are  high,  and  the  penalty 
to  those  who  cannot  is  failure.  Under  a  less  stable 
organization  of  society  the  risks  of  industry  lay  in  fire 
and  flood,  in  robbers  and  hostile  invaders,  in  accidents  by 
sea  and  land.  Now  the  chief  risk  lies  in  the  uncertainty 
of  the  future  market. 

The  benefits  of  capitalism.  The  features  of  the  capital- 
istic system  which  have  been  reviewed  thus  far  have  not 
all  been  such  as  to  incline  one  to  regard  the  system  as 
altogether  ideal.  Many  of  them,  considered  abstractly, 
are  far  from  ideal,  although  they  must  be  regarded  as 
strictly  normal  under  existing  conditions.  It  is  evident 
that  capitalism  must  have  some  prominent  redeeming 
features  to  have  enabled  it  to  establish  itself  as  the 
dominant  mode  of  production  in  all  modern  civilized 
countries.  Such  redeeming  features  it  indeed  has  in 
abundance,  and  they  may  all  be  briefly  summed  up  in 
the  single  statement  —  capitalism  is  by  all  odds  the  most 
efficient  wealth-producing  system  that  the  world  has 
ever  known.  Under  its  regime  the  rate  of  production 
of  wealth,  and  the  per  capita  amount  of  wealth  have 
been  augmented  almost  beyond  measure.  One  laborer, 
working  in  conjunction  with  modern  machinery,  can  turn 


ECONOMIC   LIFE;    NORMAL  ASPECTS        73 

out  more  goods  than  a  hundred  men  with  the  tools  of 
the  middle  ages,  and  many  gigantic  tasks  are  possible 
which  would  be  practically  out  of  the  question  without 
machinery.  The  variety  and  abundance  of  goods  have 
increased  enormously,  and  the  prices  of  many  commodi- 
ties have  been  correspondingly  reduced.  Capitalism  has 
given  man  a  mastery  over  Nature  which  was  undreamed 
of  before.  It  has  made  modern  civilization  possible. 

The  fact  that  the  advantages  of  capitalism  may  be 
thus  briefly  stated  must  not  be  allowed  to  obscure  their 
importance.  Capitalism,  even  in  its  most  advanced 
form,  endows  man  with  incalculable  advantages,  and 
frees  him  from  innumerable  restrictions.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  capitalism  has  come  to  stay,  and  whatever 
changes  result  from  the  demand  for  the  elimination  of  the 
undesirable  features  of  the  system,  will  take  the  form  of 
modifications  of  the  type  of  capitalism,  not  the  abandon- 
ment of  capitalism  itself. 

Transportation.  The  third  outstanding  feature  of  the 
modern  economic  organization  is  the  extreme  develop- 
ment of  transportation,  and  the  resulting  high  degree 
of  geographical  division  of  labor.  Within  the  past 
century  there  has  been  a  revolution  in  transportation  and 
commerce  which  is  scarcely  second,  in  the  importance  of 
its  economic  and  social  results,  to  the  Industrial  Revolu- 
tion. Its  development  has  been  closely  associated  with 
the  Industrial  Revolution,  and  neither  could  have  reached 
its  present  stage  without  the  other. 

The  two  chief  agents  in  this  revolution  have  been  the 
steamship  and  the  railroad,  but  there  have  also  been  im- 
portant improvements  in  other  means  of  transportation, 
including  roads,  canals,  and  sailing  vessels.  It  is  hard  to 
realize  how  great  were  the  difficulties  of  transportation 


74  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

only  a  few  hundred  years  ago.  Ships  were  small  and 
slow,  and  subject  to  frequent  loss  from  the  perils  of  the 
sea.  On  land,  the  only  means  of  communication  were 
roads.  These  were  almost  uniformly  bad,  and  in  many 
cases  were  nothing  more  than  mere  bridle  paths.  They 
were  infested  by  robbers,  and  intercepted  by  frequent  toll- 
gates.  Rivers  and  canals  were  very  important  as  high- 
ways. The  risks  of  transportation  by  both  sea  and  land 
were  enormous,  and  the  prices  of  transported  goods, 
and  the  profits  gained  from  successful  expeditions  were 
correspondingly  high.  In  the  middle  ages,  English 
wool  in  Florence  sold  for  from  two  to  twelve  times  as 
much  as  at  home.  Risks  and  profits  were  exceptionally 
great  in  new  enterprises.  It  took  a  year  and  four  months 
for  Cabral's  expedition  to  India  to  make  the  voyage  and 
return,  and  then  only  five  out  of  thirteen  ships  returned 
laden.  But  the  cargo  of  these  five  more  than  repaid  the 
entire  cost  of  the  fleet.  The  freight  of  DaGama's  ships, 
on  a  similar  undertaking,  paid  expenses  sixty  times  over.18 
Even  in  the  early  nineteenth  century  the  manufacturer 
often  had  to  ship  goods  at  his  own  expense  and  risk,  and 
wait  eighteen  months  or  two  years  for  his  return.19 

In  addition  to  the  natural  obstacles  and  barriers  to 
commerce  there  were  many  restrictions  of  a  political 
or  pseudo-economic  nature.  Tariffs,  import  and  export 
duties,  navigation  laws,  dues  and  exactions  of  every  sort 
were  the  order  of  the  day.  Hostility  between  nations 
was  the  prevailing  condition,  and  foreign  traders  were 
regarded  by  most  nations  with  extreme  suspicion.  Cur- 
rency was  uncertain  and  undependable,  and  the  means 
of  exchange  were  primitive. 

Under  such  conditions  the  only  objects  of  commerce 
which  could  be  transported  any  distance  were  articles  of 


ECONOMIC  LIFE;    NORMAL  ASPECTS        75 

small  bulk  and  high  value  —  almost  exclusively  articles 
of  luxury,  or  designed  for  the  consumption  of  the  wealthy. 
The  goods  consumed  by  the  ordinary  family  were  almost 
entirely  produced  in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  often 
in  the  home  itself.  Goods  were  sold  where  they  were 
made,  and  conversely  were  made  where  they  were  de- 
manded. The  market  for  most  commodities  was  strictly 
local.  The  manner  of  selling  was  by  the  market  and  fair, 
a  system  which  still  prevails  in  backward  countries,  as 
in  Turkey,  where  villages  are  still  named  in  accordance 
with  the  day  on  which  their  market  is  held. 

Under  these  conditions  it  was  almost  as  nearly  impos- 
sible to  make  a  fortune  by  trade  as  it  was  by  manufac- 
ture under  the  gild  system.  In  those  lines  of  commerce 
where  great  wealth  was  waiting,  the  expenses  and  risks 
were  so  great  as  to  preclude  them  to  all  except  those  sup- 
ported or  backed  by  governments.  It  was  not  until  the 
joint  stock  trading  companies,  and  chartered  companies, 
came  into  existence  that  commerce  began  to  be  looked 
upon  as  a  promising  source  of  wealth,  and  even  then 
the  losses  were  so  great  that  the  period  is  known  as  the 
"Bubble  period." 

As  in  the  case  of  the  Industrial  Revolution,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  try  to  trace  in  detail  the  steps  by  which  the 
modern  commercial  and  transportation  system  was  in- 
troduced and  developed.  The  fact  is  that  world  com- 
merce is  practically  a  matter  of  the  last  three  quarters 
of  a  century.  While  the  first  locomotive  went  into  oper- 
ation in  1814,  railroad  building  practically  dates  from 
about  1830,  and  over  ninety-nine  per  cent  of  the  railroad 
mileage  of  the  world  has  been  built  since  1840.  In  1830 
there  were  23  miles  of  railroad  in  the  United  States,  in 
1870,  52,922  and  in  1913,  251,984.  The  application  of 


76  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

steam  to  transoceanic  traffic  is  an  even  more  recent  de- 
velopment. An  American  ship,  the  Savannah,  crossed 
the  Atlantic  in  1819,  using  steam  as  an  auxiliary  to  sail. 
She  was  equipped  with  movable  paddle  wheels,  which 
were  hoisted  on  deck  when  the  winds  were  favorable, 
and  lowered  into  the  water  for  use  only  when  the  winds 
were  contrary.  The  first  regular  steamship  to  cross  the 
ocean  without  recoaling  on  the  way  was  the  Great  West- 
ern in  1838.  The  first  large  iron  steamer,  and  the  first 
using  the  screw  in  ocean  navigation,  was  the  Great 
Britain,  sailing  in  1845. 

Other  inventions,  secondary  in  importance  only  to 
these,  which  have  improved  transportation,  and  have 
reduced  the  commercial  size  of  the  world,  are  the  tele- 
phone, telegraph,  submarine  cables,  improved  postal  sys- 
tems, and  now  the  wireless,  and  aeroplanes  and  dirigibles. 

The  results  of  this  tremendous  series  of  improvements 
are  incalculable.  The  foreign  commerce  of  the  countries 
of  the  world  has  increased  from  approximately  1.4  thou- 
sand million  dollars,  or  $2.31  per  capita,  in  1800  20  to  over 
40.4  thousand  millions,  or  $24.46  per  capita  in  I9i3-21 
The  portions  of  the  earth's  surface  have  been  drawn  to- 
gether, for  all  practical  purposes,  to  a  degree  that  would 
have  been  inconceivable  even  a  century  ago.  Every 
variety  of  climate,  every  form  of  natural  resource,  is 
made  to  contribute  its  share  to  the  daily  supplies  of  the 
humblest  individual.  Things  that  were  once  the  luxuries 
of  the  wealthy  are  now  the  everyday  comforts  and 
necessaries  of  the  masses.22  The  social  effects  are  no 
less  important  than  the  mercantile.  Old  hostilities  be- 
tween societies,  based  largely  on  ignorance  and  lack  of 
acquaintance,  have  been  broken  down.  Travel  has  been 
encouraged,  international  relations  have  been  improved, 


ECONOMIC  LIFE;    NORMAL  ASPECTS        77 

and  a  sense  of  world  brotherhood  has  been  developed. 
The  likelihood  of  war  (in  spite  of  the  seeming  evidence 
to  the  contrary,  furnished  by  the  Great  War)  has  been 
lessened.  At  least,  the  possibility  of  a  world  federation 
has  been  created. 

In  some  particulars  the  effects  of  the  Commercial  Rev- 
olution are  similar  to  those  of  the  Industrial  Revolution. 
The  extreme  geographical  division  of  labor  has  tended  to 
increase  the  impersonality  of  business  relations,  and  has 
still  further  attenuated  the  bond  between  supply  and  de- 
mand, or  between  producer  and  consumer,  and  has  added 
to  the  difficulty  of  placing  the  responsibility  in  business 
matters.  Also,  the  creation  of  a  world  market  has  vastly 
increased  the  possibilities  of  securing  wealth  through  trade. 
As  long  as  the  market  was  strictly  local,  the  chances  of 
buying  and  selling  were  so  limited  for  any  individual  that 
it  was  impossible  to  make  a  fortune  by  those  operations. 
But  now  the  market  is  the  civilized  world,  and  a  man 
who  manufactures  a  better  shoelace  than  any  made  be- 
fore can  become  a  multimillionaire  in  his  lifetime. 

The  diminished  relative  importance  of  agriculture.  The 
fourth  predominant  characteristic  of  our  normal  eco- 
nomic situation  is  the  progressively  diminishing  impor- 
tance of  agriculture,  relative  to  other  forms  of  business 
activity,  particularly  manufacturing,  trade,  and  trans- 
portation. This  situation  is  sometimes  regarded  as 
almost  identical  with  the  growth  of  capitalism,  but  this 
is  an  error.  It  is  true  that  capitalism  finds  its  highest 
development  in  connection  with  manufacturing,  but 
manufacturing  and  capitalism  are  not  the  same  thing. 
It  is  possible  to  have  well-developed  manufacturing  with- 
out capitalism,  while  capitalism  affects  agriculture  as  truly 
—  though  not  as  extensively  —  as  it  does  manufacturing. 


APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 


It  is  partly  because  agriculture  shares  in  the  benefits  of 
capitalism  that  it  is  no  longer  necessary  to  have  so  large  a 
proportion  of  the  population  as  formerly  engaged  in  tilling 
the  soil.  Two  or  three  men,  equipped  with  modern  agri- 
cultural machinery,  can  turn  out  a  bigger  crop  than  several 
times  as  many  men  could  with  the  old  methods. 

Thus  modern  societies  are  marked  by  a  steady  shifting 
of  population  from  rural  to  urban  districts,  and  from 
agricultural  to  industrial  and  commercial  pursuits. 
This  change  is  illustrated  statistically  by  the  following 
figures,  showing  the  proportion  of  the  total  working 
population  of  the  United  States  engaged  in  different 
types  of  activity  at  different  periods. 

PER  CENT  OF  POPULATION  GAINFULLY  EMPLOYED  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES 


EMPLOYED  IN 

1820 

1880 

1900 

1910 
< 

Agricultural  pursuits    

8o.l 

AA  A. 

-}f  7 

22  O 

Trade  and  transportation  

10.8 

l6.4. 

IQ.Q 

Manufacturing  and  mechanical  pursuits    .     . 

21.8 

24.4 

28.3 

The  following  figures  show  the  amount  of  money  in- 
vested in  agriculture  and  in  manufacturing  at  different 
periods : 


(BILLIONS  OF  DOLLARS) 

1850 

1900 

1910 

Value  of  farm  property  in  the  United  States  (round 
numbers)  

4.0 

•  5 

20.4 
9.8 

41.0 

Money  invested  in  manufactures  in  the  United 
States  (round  numbers)  

1909 

18.4 

ECONOMIC   LIFE;    NORMAL   ASPECTS         79 

This  change  has  been  especially  observable  in  the 
United  States,  which,  in  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  has 
passed  through  stages  which  have  occupied  many  cen- 
turies in  older  countries.  The  entire  character  of  our 
social  life  and  organization  has  changed  from  one  domi- 
nated and  determined  by  agricultural  interests  and  pur- 
suits, to  one  dominated  by  industrial  and  commercial 
activities.  The  change  is  well  exemplified  by  the  typical 
"prominent  citizen"  of  to-day  and  of  a  hundred  years 
ago.  Then  it  was  the  country  squire  who  embodied  the 
characteristic  ideals  of  his  group,  and  who  was  accord- 
ingly respected  and  honored.  To-day  it  is  the  entre- 
preneur, the  banker,  the  large  merchant  —  in  brief, 
the  "business  man." 

Because  of  the  dominance  of  the  economic  organiza- 
tion over  all  other  social  institutions,  already  referred  to, 
this  change  from  an  agricultural  to  an  industrial  economy 
has  involved,  and  is  involving,  many  profound  altera- 
tions in  the  relationship  of  men  to  their  human  environ- 
ment. The  old  simplicity  and  democracy  of  the  rural 
household  has  been  replaced  by  the  artificiality  and 
pronounced  class  distinctions  of  the  manufacturing 
community.  It  was  expected  that  the  "hired  man" 
on  the  farm  should  take  his  meals  with  the  family,  and 
on  Sunday  should  put  on  his  "store  clothes"  and  take 
the  daughter  of  the  house  to  church.  Such  a  relationship 
is  undreamed  of  on  the  part  of  the  entrepreneur,  or  capi- 
talist owner,  and  the  laborers  in  the  factory.  New 
social  problems  have  arisen  on  every  hand,  and  old  tradi- 
tional conceptions  and  modes  of  life  have  had  to  be  aban- 
doned or  radically  modified.  Many  of  the  most  insistent 
problems  of  modern  social  life  are  more  or  less  closely 
bound  up  with  this  shifting  of  the  dominant  phase  of 


8o  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

economic  activity.  Yet  the  change  is  indicative  of  an 
improving  economic  status  of  mankind,  and  an  increas- 
ing mastery  over  Nature.  For,  generally  speaking,  the 
agricultural  activities  have  to  do  with  the  production 
of  the  elementary  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life,  while 
the  manufacturing  and  commercial  activities  are  es- 
pecially concerned  with  more  elaborate  comforts  and 
luxuries.  A  decreasing  percentage  of  agricultural  work- 
ers commonly  indicates  a  growing  command  of  luxuries 
on  the  part  of  the  society  as  a  whole. 

The  complexity  and  impersonality  of  economic  relations. 
Finally,  in  summing  up  the  characteristics  of  the  eco- 
nomic life  of  to-day,  there  is  to  be  observed  an  extreme 
complexity  and  impersonality  in  almost  all  business  rela- 
tions. This  has  already  been  suggested  in  several  dif- 
ferent connections.  It  remains  merely  to  point  out  how 
nearly  universal  it  is.  Wherever  we  turn,  we  find  an 
elongated,  attenuated,  complicated  bond  between  the 
different  factors  in  business  life  —  between  producer  and 
consumer,  between  employer  and  employee,  between 
capitalist  and  laborer.  The  old  personal  touch,  and  inti- 
mate relationship  between  those  who  represent  the 
different  factors  in  production  is  a  thing  of  the  past. 
The  spirit  of  the  machine  seems  to  pervade  all  economic 
affairs.  This  complexity  carries  with  it  a  division  of 
responsibility  which  goes  to  the  extreme  where  there 
seems  to  be  almost  no  responsibility  at  all.  The  eco- 
nomic organization  presents  the  aspect  of  a  great  me- 
chanical system  which  seems  to  run  itself,  with  no  human 
individual  directly  accountable  for  any  of  its  features. 

The  uniqueness  of  modern  economic  problems.  From 
this  survey  of  the  normal  aspects  of  the  economic  life  of 
to-day  it  becomes  clear  that  the  relations  of  men  to 


ECONOMIC  LIFE;    NORMAL  ASPECTS        81 

their  human  environment  in  this  great  field  are  of  a  dis- 
tinctly modern  character.  They  are  determined  by 
conditions  which  are  of  exceedingly  recent  growth  - 
having  their  beginning  scarcely  a  century  ago,  and  con- 
stantly developing  even  at  the  present  moment.  The 
problems  which  arise  out  of  these  conditions  are  new. 
No  other  generation  has  ever  had  to  deal  with  them.  No 
society  has  ever  been  constituted  on  the  same  plan,  nor 
had  to  grapple  with  the  same  sort  of  difficulties.  Since 
the  alterations  have  not  yet  reached  their  culmination, 
modern  societies  are  experiencing  the  difficulties  which 
always  attend  a  transitional  period.  Old  methods, 
traditional  policies,  well-established  institutions  are  con- 
stantly proving  themselves  out  of  date,  and  inadequate. 
One  who  wishes  to  deal  with  the  social  problems  of  to- 
day must  be  equipped,  in  the  first  place,  with  a  thorough 
understanding  of  the  nature  of  his  own  society,  and,  in 
the  second  place,  with  a  readiness  to  test  every  idea, 
plan,  or  method  by  the  criterion  of  things  as  they  are,  and 
to  abandon  any  prejudice  or  pet  scheme  which  does  not 
accord  with  the  conditions  and  demands  of  the  present. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   STANDARD   OF   LIVING 

The  meaning  of  standard  of  living.  The  foregoing 
pages  have  depicted  the  modern  setting  of  the  economic 
struggle  of  the  human  race.  The  economic  organization 
of  a  society  represents  its  equipment  for  the  task  of 
making  Nature  yield  her  treasures  for  man's  use.  It 
also  represents  the  setting,  within  which  takes  place  the 
great  conflict  of  men  with  each  other,  each  individual, 
each  family,  each  group  responding  to  the  primary  in- 
stinct of  self-advancement. 

The  success  of  any  group  of  people  in  this  economic 
struggle  is  represented  by  what  is  known  as  the  standard 
of  living.  This  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  all 
economic  concepts,  and  merits  careful  consideration. 

At  the  outset  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish  between 
two  conceptions  of  the  standard  of  living  which  are 
current,  following  the  two-fold  significance  of  the  word 
standard,  as  used  in  everyday  language.  A  standard 
may  be  either  a  type  or  average,  or  an  ideal.  Thus  we 
speak  of  a  standard  typewriter,  a  standard  gauge  rail- 
road, a  standard  dictionary,  a  standard  death  rate. 
Used  in  this  way,  the  word  standard  means  the  com- 
mon, ordinary,  accepted,  or  representative  form  of  an 
object.  In  many  cases  it  is  practically  equivalent  to 
an  average.  In  its  other  use,  connoting  an  ideal,  we 
speak  of  a  man  as  having  high  standards,  or  another 

82 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  83 

man  as  having  no  standards  at  all.  We  say  of  a  third 
man  that  he  has  standards  that  he  cannot  live  up  to. 
So  the  phrase  "standard  of  living"  is  used  to  mean 
either  an  ideal  of  the  way  in  which  people  ought  to  live, 
or  a  type  or  average  of  the  way  they  do  live.  This 
latter  interpretation  is  by  far  the  more  valuable  and 
important  concept.  It  is  essential,  first  of  all,  to 
know  how  people  actually  do  live,  and  then  there  can 
be  some  intelligent  speculation  as  to  how  they  ought 
to  live. 

The  standard  of  living  of  a  group  of  people  is  the 
average  amount  of  necessaries,  comforts,  and  luxuries 
enjoyed  by  the  typical  family  in  that  group.  The 
term  is  sometimes  so  denned  as  to  apply  to  individuals, 
but  this  conception  misses  much  of  the  social  significance 
of  the  term.  Societies  are  organized  on  the  basis,  not  of 
individuals,  but  of  families.  The  "unit  of  living,"  so 
to  speak,  is  the  family.  All  social  arrangements  and 
adjustments  take  it  for  granted  that  the  majority  of 
the  members  of  society  will  live  in  families.  It  would 
be  almost  impossible  to  make  a  study  of  standards  of 
living,  .based  on  individuals,  which  would  have  any 
meaning  at  all. 

A  complete  and  accurate  delineation  of  the  standard 
of  living  of  a  group  of  people  would  be  represented  by  a 
detailed  picture  of  the  life  of  a  single,  typical  family— 
what  may  be  called  the  "standard"  family.  The  con- 
ditions of  life  of  this  standard  family  would  be  found  by 
averaging,  as  accurately  as  possible,  all  the  details  of  the 
living  of  the  families  in  the  group,  and  combining  these 
averages  as  if  presented  by  a  single  family.  The  stand- 
ard family  is  thus  an  abstraction,  a  hypothetical  case, 
just  as,  in  ethnology,  the  race  type  is  an  abstraction. 


84  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

It  would  probably  be  just  as  hard  to  find  any  actual 
family  that  lived  exactly  in  accord  with  the  average  of 
the  families  of  the  group,  as  it  would  be  to  find  a  single 
individual  who  embodied  in  his  person  all  the  exact  char- 
acteristics of  the  race  type.  That  is  one  of  the  great 
difficulties  with  averages  —  that  they  do  not  really 
represent  anybody  at  all.  Nevertheless,  when  it  is  de- 
sired to  get  a  concrete  conception  of  the  characteristic 
features  of  a  group  of  objects  which  differ  more  or  less 
widely  among  themselves,  an  average  is  often  the  best, 
if  not  the  only,  way  to  do  it.  The  standard  of  living 
is  practically  the  only  way  to  represent  the  living  condi- 
tions of  a  group  of  people. 

Two  types  of  standards  of  living.  At  this  point  a  fur- 
ther distinction  needs  to  be  made.  This  is  the  dis- 
crimination between  the  standard  of  living  of  a  society, 
and  the  standard  of  living  of  a  group  within  a  society. 
Both  are  conceivable  concepts,  and  each  has  its  utility 
in  certain  cases.  Thus  it  would  be  theoretically  pos- 
sible to  work  out  the  standard  of  living  of  the  entire 
United  States,  and  such  a  standard  would  be  of  value  in 
comparing  the  advantages  of  life  in  this  country  with 
those  in  European  countries  —  in  connection  with 
immigration  investigations,  for  instance.  It  would 
even  be  conceivably  possible  to  work  out  the  standard 
of  the  entire  world,  in  order  that  life  here  might  be 
compared  with  that  on  Mars  or  some  other  planet.  But 
the  larger  the  number  of  units  combined  in  an  average, 
and  the  wider  the  diversities  between  them,  the  less 
significant  does  the  average  become,  and  the  more 
completely  does  it  fail  to  represent  anything  in  par- 
ticular. Thus  there  would  be  little  point  in  asking 
a  traveler,  recently  returned  from  a  strange  land,  what 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  85 

was  the  average  height  of  the  vegetation  in  that  coun- 
try. For  an  answer  of  " Fifteen  feet"  might  apply 
equally  to  a  country  covered  with  a  uniform  growth  of 
scrub  pine,  or  one  diversified  by  every  sort  of  plant, 
from  the  creeping  vine  to  the  towering  cedar.  But  a 
query  as  to  the  average  height  of  the  oak  trees  might 
elicit  some  really  valuable  information.  So  the  most 
significant  and  valuable  standards  of  living  are  not  those 
of  the  society,  which  includes  everybody  from  the  ditch 
digger  to  the  multimillionaire,  but  those  of  groups 
within  the  society,  which  are  sufficiently  homogeneous 
so  that  the  standard  really  gives  some  idea  of  how  the 
people  live. 

The  standard  of  a  society.  But  the  difference  between 
the  standards  of  living  of  societies  and  of  social  groups 
is  much  more  far-reaching  than  this.  The  two  sorts  of 
standards  rest  on  wholly  different  principles,  and  are 
determined  by  wholly  different  factors.  The  standard 
of  living  of  a  society  is  a  matter  of  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence. It  is  the  resultant  of  three  great  factors  —  the 
size  of  the  population,  the  amount  of  land  available,  and 
the  stage  of  the  arts.  Given  a  certain  combination  of 
these  three  factors,  a  certain  standard  of  living  is  bound 
to  result,  for  the  society.  The  only  way  to  change  the 
standard  of  a  society  is  to  alter  one  or  more  of  these  three 
factors.  The  standard  of  living  of  a  group  within  a 
society,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  matter  of  the  competition 
of  life.  It  is  determined  by  one  single  factor  —  the 
power  of  that  group.  This  power  may  be  of  different 
sorts,  and,  in  various  societies  of  the  past,  groups  have 
depended  sometimes  upon  military  power,  sometimes  on 
political  power,  sometimes  on  religious  power  for  their 
standards  of  living.  In  modern  societies  it  is  economic 


86  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

power  which  determines.  Of  course  the  standards  of 
all  groups  within  a  society  are  conditioned  in  general  by 
the  standard  of  that  society  —  just  as  the  movements 
of  fishes  are  conditioned  by  the  depth  of  the  ocean,  or 
the  flight  of  birds  by  the  height  of  the  atmosphere  — 
but  within  this  condition  they  vary  independently  of  the 
factors  which  determine  the  standard  of  the  society. 
No  class,  however  favored,  can  rise  above  the  point 
made  possible  by  the  conditions  of  the  society  of  which 
it  is  a  part.  But  how  near  the  top  of  that  society  it 
gets  is  determined  by  the  ability  it  has  to  appropriate 
for  its  own  special  enjoyment  the  benefits  which  the 
society  as  a  whole  enjoys. 

Thus  a  given  standard  of  living  of  a  society,  resulting 
from  a  certain  combination  of  land,  population,  and 
arts  of  industry,  may  represent  a  condition  where  the 
great  majority  of  the  people  live  on  a  plane  of  approxi- 
mate equality,  as  is  said  to  be  the  case  in  Bulgaria,23 
or  it  may  represent  a  condition  where  the  class  standards 
vary  all  the  way  from  that  of  the  family  with  an  income 
of  a  million  dollars  a  month  to  that  of  the  family  de- 
pendent on  a  widowed  mother  who  cannot  earn  a  dollar 
a  day,  as  in  the  United  States.  It  is  impossible  to  tell 
from  the  society  standard  alone  what  conditions  prevail, 
among  the  classes.  For  this  purpose,  group  standards 
must  be  studied.  Conversely,  it  is  impossible  to  tell, 
merely  from  a  knowledge  of  the  relative  power  of  a 
group  within  a  society,  what  its  standard  of  living  is. 
Something  must  be  known  about  the  standard  of  the 
society.  In  two  societies  organized  on  about  the  same 
system,  the  standard  of  any  given  class  will  be  high 
in  the  society  with  a  high  standard,  and  low  in  the 
society  whose  standard  is  low.  Thus  shoemakers  in 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  87 

the  United  States  will  have  a  much  higher  standard 
than  shoemakers  in  Italy  —  in  fact,  shoemakers  in 
the  United  States  may  have  a  higher  standard  than, 
say,  school-teachers  in  Italy  —  just  because  the  so- 
ciety standard  is  so  much  higher  in  this  country  than 
in  Italy. 

It  is  evident  that  the  interests  of  all  the  elements  of 
a  society  are  harmonious  as  regards  the  standard  of  that 
society.  Whatever  is  done  to  increase  the  amount  of 
land  controlled  by  that  society,  or  to  bring  about  a 
more  advantageous  density  of  population,  or  to  improve 
the  arts  of  industry,  so  long  as  these  improvements 
do  not  injure  the  interests  of  any  specific  class,  will 
meet  with  the  approval  and  support  of  all.  Conse- 
quently, no  great  social  problems  are  connected  with 
the  question  of  raising  the  standards  of  societies,  and 
it  is  not  necessary  to  devote  much  conscious  thought 
as  to  how  this  may  be  done.  Societies  may  be 
trusted  to  do  the  best  possible  for  themselves  in 
this  respect. 

The  standards  of  social  groups.  But  when  we  turn  to 
the  question  of  the  standards  of  social  groups,  we  find 
ourselves  at  once  in  the  midst  of  a  great  conflict  and 
antagonism  of  interests.  For  the  things  won  from 
Nature  by  the  united  efforts  of  the  members  of  society 
must  be  distributed,  and  there  are  an  indefinite  number 
of  ways  in  which  they  may  be  distributed.  They  may 
be  divided,  as  has  been  remarked,  so  that  all  families  will 
share  about  alike ;  or  they  may  be  divided  so  that  some 
will  have  a  superabundance,  others  a  comfortable  al- 
lowance, and  many  a  bare  pittance.  The  division  in 
modern  societies  is  largely  on  the  basis  of  economic 
classes,  and  the  share  which  each  class  receives  is  de- 


88  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

termined  by  its  relative  economic  power.  Thus  arise  the 
great  and  bitter  class  conflict  and  class  struggle  which 
characterize  modern  civilized  life.  In  connection  with 
this  class  conflict  emerge  many  of  the  most  serious  and 
perplexing  of  the  social  problems  with  which  modern 
societies  have  to  deal.  This  antagonism  of  economic 
interests  accounts  for  most,  if  not  practically  all,  of  the 
class  hatred,  envy,  and  rivalry  in  such  countries  as  the 
United  States.  For  the  variations  in  economic  power 
are  so  great  that  it  is  quite  possible  that  a  situation  should 
exist  where  the  standard  of  a  society  is  steadily  advanc- 
ing, while  that  of  one  or  more  groups  within  the  society 
is  depreciating.  This  has  been  repeatedly  demonstrated 
in  history,  perhaps  the  most  familiar  case  being  that  of 
the  textile  workers  in  England,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Industrial  Revolution.  The  successive  improvements  in 
spinning  machinery  on  the  one  hand,  and  weaving  ma- 
chinery on  the  other,  caused  a  series  of  fluctuations  in 
the  standards  of  the  weavers  and  the  spinners.  After 
the  introduction  of  a  newly  invented  spinning  machine, 
the  weavers,  whose  labor  was  then  in  great  demand, 
would  be  wearing  silk  hats  and  driving  to  town  in  car- 
riages. But  when  the  next  invention  put  weaving 
machinery  ahead  of  spinning  machinery,  the  weavers 
fell  to  a  pitiable  state,  while  the  spinners  were  on  the 
crest  of  the  wave.  But  all  the  while  the  general  stand- 
ard of  English  society  was  advancing  because  of  the 
great  improvements  in  the  technical  arts.  In  fact  it 
often  happens  that  something  which  is  of  the  greatest 
service  in  improving  the  standard  of  a  society,  may 
seriously  injure  the  interests  of  one  or  more  classes. 
Thus  the  introduction  of  machinery,  which  has  made 
modern  civilization  possible,  at  the  outset  worked 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  89 

grievous  hardship  to  the  old  handworkers,  so  much  so 
that  the  very  instinct  of  self  preservation  led  them  to 
attack  the  machines  and  factories  as  if  they  were  great 
monsters,  come  to  take  the  bread  from  their  mouths. 
So  the  addition  of  large  amounts  of  land  to  the  resources 
of  a  society  —  as  by  the  various  reclamation  projects 
—  will  prejudicially  affect  the  interests  of  the  existing 
landowners.  Such  effects,  however,  are  always  transi- 
tory. In  time  society  adjusts  itself  to  the  new  condi- 
tions, and  all  classes  come  to  share  more  or  less  in  the 
new  benefits. 

The  most  significant  standard.  It  has  been  stated  that 
the  most  significant  standards  of  living  are  those  of 
groups  within  a  society.  And  of  all  the  groups  or  classes 
in  modern  societies,  the  one  whose  standard  of  living  is 
of  the  highest  importance,  and  repays  the  most  careful 
study,  is  the  wage-earning  class.  There  are  three  rea- 
sons for  this.  In  the  first  place,  the  wage-earning  class 
is  very  much  larger  than  any  other  class,  constituting 
a  large  majority  of  the  entire  population.  At  a  rough 
estimate,  two  thirds  to  three  quarters  of  the  gainfully 
employed  population  of  the  United  States  are  wage 
earners,  and  therefore  a  corresponding  proportion  of  the 
families  are  wage-earning  families.*  It  follows  that 
the  wage-earning  class  represents  a  much  greater  sum 
total  of  human  welfare  than  any  other  class,  or  than 
all  other  classes  put  together.  In  the  second  place,  the 
wage  earners  constitute  the  backbone  of  democracies, 
and  the  strength  of  any  democratic  nation  depends 
upon  the  comfort,  intelligence,  and  contentment  of  its 
working  people.  Finally,  the  standard  of  living  of  the 
wage-earning  class  represents  the  minimum  for  the 
*  See  pages  91-92. 


90  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

entire  society.*  The  standard  of  any  other  class  is  that 
of  the  wage  earners,  plus  something.  Given  a  clear 
picture  of  the  standard  of  living  of  the  wage-earning 
class,  it  is  possible  to  form  a  notion  of  the  economic 
foundations  of  a  society.  The  various  peaks  and  pin- 
nacles of  the  edifice  are  of  minor  importance.  An  im- 
portant part  of  the  review  of  the  normal  aspects  of  the 
economic  life  is  a  study  of  the  standard  of  living  of 
the  working  classes. 

Economic  distribution  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States.  Before  entering  upon  this  study  it  will  be  helpful 
to  get  some  idea  of  the  make-up  of  the  working  force  of 
the  United  States  —  what  proportion  of  the  entire  pop- 
ulation are  at  work ;  in  what  occupations  they  are  en- 
gaged ;  what  proportion  of  them  are  wage  earners,  etc. 

The  government  statistics  furnished  by  the  United 
States  with  reference  to  its  working  population  are 
based  upon  the  term  "gainful  workers."  As  used  by 
the  Census  Bureau,  this  is  practically  synonymous  with 
workers  for  money,  boys  working  full  time  on  their 
father's  farms  without  financial  remuneration  being 
about  the  only  exception  of  importance. §  The  term 
does  not  include  women  doing  housework  in  their  own 
homes,  nor  other  workers  whose  remuneration  does  not 
take  the  form  of  money,  with  the  exception  just  noted. 

The  class  of  gainful  workers  includes  the  following 
proportions  of  the  population  of  the  United  States, 
grouped  in  different  ways : 

*  No  account  is  taken  here  of  the  relatively  small  number  of  "down- 
and-outs,"  the  "submerged  tenth,"  what  Mrs.  Bosanquet  calls  the 
"residuum,"  composed  of  the  dregs  of  society,  who  can  hardly  be  said 
to  have  a  standard  at  all. 

§  For  definition,  see  Thirteenth  Census,  Volume  IV,  page  15. 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  91 

PnPTTTATTow  Ponnp  PERCENTAGE  OF  GROUP  CLASSED  AS 

GAINFUL  WORKERS  «  (1910) 

Total  population 41.5 

Population  ten  years  of  age  and  over 53.3 

Males  ten  years  of  age  and  over 81.3 

Females  ten  years  of  age  and  over 23.4 

Children  ten  to  fifteen  years  of  age 18.4 

Children  ten  to  thirteen  years  of  age 

Male       16.6 

Female 8.0 

Children  fourteen  to  fifteen  years  of  age 

Male 41.4 

Female 19.8 

These  workers  are  distributed  among  the  occupation 
groups  as  follows : 

rw^TUATr™  PERCENTAGE  OF  TOTAL  NUMBER  OB 

GAINFUL  WORKERS"  (I9i0) 

Agriculture,  forestry,  and  animal  husbandry       .     .  32.2 

Extraction  of  minerals 2.5 

Manufacturing  and  mechanical  industries      .     .     .  27.9 

Transportation 6.9 

Trade 9.5 

Public  service  (not  elsewhere  classified)     ....  1.2 

Professional  service 4.4 

Domestic  and  personal  service 9.9 

Clerical  occupations 4.6 

Total ico.o 

As  to  the  proportion  of  these  gainful  workers  who  are 
to  be  classed  as  wage  earners,  no  figures  are  furnished. 
It  is  possible,  however,  to  make  a  general  estimate. 
Out  of  every  100  persons  engaged  in  manufactures,  86 
are  wage  earners.26  ProbaHy  the  proportion  would  be 
virtually  the  same  for  the  class  listed  above  as  manu- 
facturing and  mechanical  industries,  which  includes  27.9 
per  cent  of  the  gainful  workers.  In  the  mining  indus- 
tries 93  per  cent  of  the  workers  are  wage  earners.27  In 
the  railroad  industry  in  1910  there  were  5476  general 
officers  directing  the  activities  of  nearly  one  and  three 
quarters  million  employees,  most  of  whom  would  be 


92  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

wage  earners.28  Thus  in  the  manufacturing  and  mining 
industries,  and  in  transportation,  from  85  to  over  90 
per  cent  of  the  workers  are  wage  earners.  This  pro- 
portion would  probably  hold  for  trade,  and  for  domestic 
and  personal  service.  The  percentage  of  wage  earners 
in  the  small  groups,  professional  service,  public  service, 
and  clerical  occupations  might  not  be  so  high.  There 
remains  the  largest  group  of  all,  agriculture,  etc.  This 
group  included  12,659,203  persons  in  1910.  Of  these, 
6,361,502  were  farm  operators,  including  owners,  tenants, 
and  managers.29  This  is  half  the  group,  or  about  16  per 
cent  of  the  whole  number  of  gainful  workers  in  the 
entire  country.  The  other  half  of  this  group  would  be 
mostly  wage  earners.  Combining  these  various  groups, 
with  an  eye  on  their  relative  numerical  importance  in  the 
total  working  population,  it  appears  that  the  wage 
earners  of  the  United  States  constitute  from  two  thirds 
to  three  quarters  of  the  entire  class  of  gainful  workers. 
The  remainder  are  independent  producers,  salaried 
workers,  members  of  professions,  etc. 

Two  phases  of  the  standard  of  living.  Every  standard 
of  living  has  two  phases  — income  and  outgo.  Both 
of  these  are  expressed  in  terms  of  money.  The  in- 
come is  the  amount  of  money  which  comes  into  the 
possession  of  the  family  for  its  own  use  during  the 
course  of  the  year.  The  outgo  is  the  amount  of  money 
spent  for  the  "goods"  consumed  by  the  family  during 
the  year,  including,  of  course,  that  most  excellent  good 
called  "saving."  The  standard  itself  consists  in  the 
actual  necessaries,  comforts,  and  luxuries  —  satisfactions 
of  all  sorts  —  which  result  from  expending  the  income 
in  certain  forms  of  outgo.  Some  families,  particularly 
rural  ones,  have  a  considerable  portion  of  both  income 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  93 

and  outgo  which  is  never  actually  reduced  to  dollars 
and  cents.  The  satisfactions  come  directly  as  a  result 
of  labor,  or  of  the  possession  of  capital.  But  any  sta- 
tistical delineation  or  comparison  requires  the  reduction 
of  all  elements  of  both  income  and  outgo  to  terms  of 
money. 

It  is  obviously  a  fallacy  —  and  yet  one  not  infre- 
quently met  with  —  to  assume  that  standards  of  living 
may  be  compared  by  comparing  either  income  or  outgo 
alone.  It  is  particularly  common  to  compare  the  wel- 
fare of  different  groups  by  setting  side  by  side  their 
average  yearly  incomes.*  But  this  is  evidently  inade- 
quate. In  a  given  human  environment,  incomes  will 
serve  as  a  sufficient  guide  to  the  relative  standard  of 
living  of  different  groups.  But  in  different  human  en- 
vironments —  that  is,  in  different  social  surroundings 
—  the  factors  connected  with  outgo  may  differ  so  much 
that  mere  income  comparisons  will  be  wholly  mislead- 
ing. The  factor  which  is  likely  to  present  the  most  im- 
portant variations  in  this  connection  is  the  purchasing 
power  of  money,  or  the  price  level.  It  is  not  enough  to 
know  how  much  money  a  family  receives.  The  es- 
sential thing  is  what  they  can  purchase  with  the  money 
received.  This  is  a  question  of  outgo.  The  importance 
of  this  balance  of  income  and  outgo  is  recognized  by 
economists  in  the  concept  of  "real  wages." 

Income.  Wages,  the  primary  source  of  income  for 
wage-earning  families,  may  be  earned  by  father,  mother, 
or  children.  There  are  also  some  subsidiary  sources 

*Thus  Hourwich,  in  Immigration  and  Labor,  is  continually  making 
comparisons  of  the  condition  of  laborers  at  different  times  or  in  different 
places  on  the  basis  of  wage  scales  alone,  taking  no  account  of  different 
price  levels.  See  pages  300-310,  etc. 


94  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

of  income,  the  most  important  being  payments  by 
boarders  and  lodgers.  In  a  study  of  25,000  families  the 
percentage  of  income  from  various  sources  was  as  fol- 
lows :  3° 

Earnings  of  husband 79-49  per  cent 

Earnings  of  wife 1.49  per  cent 

Earnings  of  children 9.49  per  cent 

Payments  of  boarders  and  lodgers     .  7.78  per  cent 

Other  sources 1.77  per  cent 

Total 100.00  per  cent 

Professor  Chapin  in  his  study  of  conditions  in  New 
York  City  places  the  percentage  of  total  family  income 
derived  from  the  earnings  of  the  father  even  higher,  i.e. 
from  76.5  per  cent  to  96.8  per  cent.31 

Thus  it  is  evident  that  the  most  important  factor  in 
the  income  of  the  wage-earning  class  is  adult  male 
wages.  But  the  wages  of  women  and  children  are  also 
to  be  considered.  While  the  total  contribution  to  the 
family  income  from  these  sources,  as  shown  in  the  fore- 
going table,  amounts  to  only  about  eleven  per  cent,  yet 
this  small  increase  counts  for  a  great  deal  with  the 
laborer's  family,  and  the  number  of  families  whose 
income  is  supplemented  from  these  sources  is  very 
large.  Out  of  the  25,000  families  referred  to  above  it 
was  found  that  8.54  per  cent  had  some  income  from  the 
wife,  and  22.19  Per  cen^  from  the  children.32  Probably 
from  40  to  50  per  cent  of  the  wage-earning  families  of 
this  country  are  dependent  on  the  earnings  of  the  hus- 
band alone.33 

Weekly  wages.-  Those  who  have  made  a  specialty  of 
studying  wages  have  found  it  impracticable  to  work 
out  anything  like  a  general  average  of  wages  for  the 
entire  country.  There  are  too  many  sorts  of  wages, 
and  they  vary  between  too  wide  extremes.  Even  if 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 


95 


such  an  average  were  figured  out,  it  would  have  rela- 
tively little  value  for  the  reasons  suggested  in  an  earlier 
paragraph  —  it  would  not  represent  the  conditions  of 
anybody  in  particular,  and  it  would  be  impossible  to 
tell  how  many  of  the  workers  were  above  the  average 
and  how  many  below,  nor  how  far  they  were  above  and 
below.  A  much  more  efficient  method  of  delineating 
conditions  is  to  divide  wages  into  a  number  of  groups, 
and  show  the  percentage  of  wage  earners  whose  earn- 
ings fall  within  each  group.  The  following  table  rep- 
resents an  effort  to  distribute  the  wage  earners  of  the 
United  States  on  the  basis  of  their  weekly  earnings  for 
the  year  1905. 

ESTIMATED  WEEKLY  EARNINGS  OF  WAGE  EARNERS  (zoos)34 


PERCENTAGES 

WEEKLY  EARNINGS 

All  wage  earners 

Men  16  years 
and  over 

Women  16  years 
and  over 

Children  under 
16  years 

Less  than  $  3   . 

4-1 

2.2 

7-3 

34-7 

$  3  to    $  4      . 

4.8 

2-3 

10.9 

32-7 

4  to       5      . 

6.2 

3-5 

14.9 

19.8 

S  to       6      . 

6-7 

4.2 

16.3 

7-8 

6  to       7 

8-3 

6.4 

I6.5 

3-6 

7  to       8      . 

8-3 

7-7 

II.7 

0.9 

8  to       9      . 

7-8 

7-9 

8.1 

o-3 

9  to     10 

"•3 

i3-i 

5-8 

O.I 

10  to     12 

13.0 

15-4 

5-i 

O.I 

12  tO        15 

I3-S 

16.9 

2-5 

(a) 

IS  tO        20 

"•3 

14.4 

0.8 

(a) 

20  to     25 

3-i 

4.0 

O.I 

$25  and  over  . 

1.6 

2.0 

(a) 

(a)  Less  than  one  tenth  of  one  per  cent 

The  total  number  of  wage  earners  included  in  this 
table  is  5,470,321,  of  whom  4,244,538  were  men  sixteen 
years  of  age  and  over,  1,065,884  were  women  sixteen 


96  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

years  of  age  and  over,  and  159,899  were  children  under 
sixteen.  Less  than  30  per  cent  of  the  entire  number 
earned  over  $12.00  per  week;  20.4  per  cent  of  the 
men  earned  over  $15.00;  less  than  15  per  cent  of  the 
women  earned  over  $9.00;  only  12.8  per  cent  of  the 
children  earned  over  $5.00. 

In  Massachusetts  in  1908  one  half  of  the  adult  male 
wage  workers  earned  less  than  $i 2 .00  per  week.35  Wages 
in  New  Jersey  were  similar.36  In  Kansas  wages  were 
somewhat  higher,  30  per  cent  of  the  adult  males  re- 
ceiving over  $i5.oo.37  Among  the  workers  investigated 
by  the  Immigration  Commission,  the  following  average 
wages  were  found :  Native  born  of  native  father,  white, 
$14.37,  negro>  $10.66 ;  native  born  of  foreign  father, 
$13.91;  foreign  born,  $n.92.38  The  New  York  State 
Factory  Investigating  Commission  found  that  in  1913 
and  1914,  50,000  men  in  four  trades  alone  in  New  York 
were  earning  under  $8.00  per  week.  Out  of  15,000 
female  employees  in  industrial  lines  in  New  York  City 
8000  received  less  than  $6.50  during  the  busy  season. 
53  per  cent  of  the  women  in  the  large  department  stores 
of  New  York  City  earn  less  than  $8.00  per  week.  Out 
of  104,000  wage  earners  investigated  by  this  commis- 
sion, one  eighth  received  less  than  $5.00  per  week,  one 
third  less  than  $7.00,  two  thirds  $10.00  or  less,  and  only 
one  sixth  $15.00  or  more.39 

The  foregoing  are  merely  representative  figures,  taken 
from  a  mass  of  material  which  is  rapidly  becoming 
very  voluminous,  but  they  give  a  general  idea  of  the 
weekly  incomes  of  the  wage  earners  of  the  United 
States.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  wages  of  women  aver- 
age about  two  thirds  of  those  of  men,  while  the  earnings 
of  children  are  about  half  those  of  women. 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 


97 


Yearly  wages.  Weekly  wages,  however,  are  not 
an  adequate  indication  of  the  income  of  wage-earn- 
ing families.  If  annual  incomes  could  be  secured  by 
multiplying  weekly  wages  by  fifty-two,  the  problem 
would  be  simple  enough.  But  unfortunately  this  is 
not  the  case.  Unemployment  is  a  factor  which  must 
be  taken  into  consideration,  and  a  very  important  one. 
As  will  be  shown  later,  it  is  the  most  exceptional  worker 
who  is  engaged  in  remunerative  toil  the  whole  year  round. 
The  great  majority  experience  periods  of  unemploy- 
ment, and  consequent  cessation  of  earnings,  which  run 
all  the  way  from  a  few  days  or  weeks  to  several  months 
every  year.  Weekly  wages,  taken  by  themselves,  are  a 
very  misleading  index  of  yearly  incomes. 

A  general  notion  of  the  yearly  incomes  of  wage-earn- 
ing individuals  may  be  gained  from  the  following  typical 
figures :  In  Massachusetts  in  1908,  out  of  350,000  adult 
male  wage  workers,  slightly  more  than  one  third  received 
less  than  $459  per  year ;  seven  tenths  received  less  than 
$686,  and  nine  tenths  less  than  $9i5.40  The  following 
tables  are  compiled  from  the  Report  of  the  Immigration 
Commission : 41 

APPROXIMATE  AVERAGE  ANNUAL  EARNINGS  OF  WAGE  EARNERS  IN 
MINES  AND  MANUFACTURING  INDUSTRIES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


NATIVITY 

GENERAL 

AVERAGE 

Males,  1  8  years  and  over 
Native  born  of  native  father  (white)  . 
Native  born  of  foreign  father  .     .     . 
Foreign  born    

43.5  %  under  $600 
60.  i  %  under  600 
77-9  %  under  600 

$666 
566 

4S1; 

Females,  18  years  and  over 
Native  born  of  native  father  (white)  . 
Native  born  of  foreign  father  .     .     . 
Foreign  born    

64.2  %  under  $400 
68.6  %  under  400 
81  .9  %  under  400 

$365 

339 

284 

98 


APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 


APPROXIMATE  AVERAGE  ANNUAL  EARNINGS  OF  WAGE  EARNERS 
IN  CITIES  ° 


NATIVITY 

MALES  18  YEARS 
AND  OVER. 

FEMALES  18  YEARS 
AND  OVER 

MALE  HEADS 
or  FAMILIES 

Native  born  of  native 

father  (white) 

$595 

$278 

$657 

Native  born  of  foreign 

father  

526 

292 

625 

Foreign  born     .     .     . 

385 

219 

452 

Perhaps  the  best  approach  to  a  general  average  of 
yearly  wages  for  the  United  States  is  secured  by  divid- 
ing the  total  yearly  amount  of  wages  paid  by  the  aver- 
age number  of  wage  earners  in  the  various  industries  of 
the  country.  These  figures  are  furnished  in  the  Statisti- 
cal Abstract  and  in  the  volumes  of  the  Census  Report. 
Thus  in  the  year  1909  the  total  average  number  of  wage 
earners  in  the  manufacturing  industries  of  continental 
United  States  was  6,615,046,  to  whom  was  paid  in 
wages  a  total  of  $3,427,037,884,  or  approximately  $518 
each.43  In  the  mines  and  quarries  of  the  United  States, 
including  Alaska,  Hawaii,  and  Porto  Rico,  there  were, 
on  a  representative  day,  1,065,283  wage  earners.  The 
total  wages  paid  during  the  year  were  $586,774,079, 
which  makes  approximately  $551  each.44  In  both  of 
these  cases  the  resulting  yearly  income  would  be  higher 
than  that  received  by  the  majority  of  workers,  for  the 
reason  that  the  method  of  computation  assumes  steady 
employment,  which  very  few  wage  earners  enjoy.  The 
higher  figure  for  the  mines  and  quarries  is  probably 
accounted  for  by  the  larger  proportion  of  male  workers 
in  these  occupations. 

A  general  estimate  made  by  one  of  the  best  authori- 
ties on  wages  in  the  country  is  that  of  the  American 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  99 

industrial  adult  male  wage  workers  about  10  per  cent 
are  skilled,  that  is,  earn  over  $1000  per  year;  40  per 
cent  are  semi-skilled,  earning  from  $600  to  $1000,  and 
50  per  cent  are  unskilled,  earning  less  than  $6oo.45  There 
is  a  general  agreement  that  about  one  half  of  the  adult 
male  wage  earners  of  the  United  States  can  command 
an  income  of  less  than  $600.  Assuming  that  at  least 
two  thirds  of  the  workers  of  the  country  are  wage  earners, 
this  would  mean  that  one  third  of  the  gainfully  employed 
population  of  the  United  States  receive  as  remuneration 
less  than  $600  a  year  each,  making  no  allowance  for 
woman  and  child  workers,  whose  wages  are  even  less 
than  those  of  men. 

Family  income.  There  remains  the  question  of  total 
family  income,  which  is  the  essential  thing  in  estimating 
standards  of  living.  On  this  point,  there  are  very 
few  official  statistics.  Perhaps  the  best  are  those  of 
the  Immigration  Commission,  which  show  that  of  the 
families  of  workers  in  mines  and  manufacturing  indus- 
tries the  average  annual  yearly  incomes  are  as  follows  :  46 

NATIVITY  or  HEAD  o*  F«ow; 


Native  born  of  native  father  (white)   .......      $865 

Native  born  of  foreign  father     .......  •  .     .        866 

Foreign  born      ..............        704 

Since  the  great  majority  of  these  families  are  foreign 
born,  the  last  figure  is  much  more  nearly  representative 
of  the  group  than  either  of  the  others.  Mrs.  More,  in 
her  study  of  wage  earners'  budgets,  found  $851.38  to 
be  a  representative  family  income  in  New  York  City.47 
Professor  Chapin,  in  a  similar  study,  found  the  largest 
number  of  families  in  the  income  group  $700  to  $799-48 
Thus  it  is  possible,  and  very  common,  for  families  to 
raise  their  total  income  above  the  earnings  of  the 


ioo  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

husband  by  the  wages  of  wife  or  children,  and  the  pay- 
ments of  boarders  and  lodgers.  It  is  to  be  noted,  how- 
ever, that  while  these  measures  add  to  the  family  income, 
and  thus  tend  to  raise  the  standard  of  living  as  meas- 
ured by  material  comforts,  yet  the  employment  of 
wives  and  children  in  wage  work  is  itself  a  lowering  of 
the  standard.  Suppose  two  families,  constituted  in  the 
same  way,  the  earnings  of  each  husband  being  $600  a 
year.  Suppose  the  first  family  increases  its  total  in- 
come by  allowing  the  wife  and  one  or  more  of  the  chil- 
dren to  engage  in  wage  work,  while  the  second  family 
contents  itself  with  the  earnings  of  the  husband,  in 
order  that  the  wife  may  be  free  to  attend  to  her  house- 
hold duties,  and  the  children  to  go  to  school.  It  might 
very  well  be  said  that  the  second  family  had  a  higher 
standard  than  the  first,  although  the  fact  would  not  be 
revealed  by  the  balance  of  income  and  outgo  expressed 
in  money.  Even  worse,  if  anything,  in  its  results,  is 
the  practice  of  increasing  the  family  income  by  the 
taking  of  boarders  and  lodgers.  It  is  a  very  insidious 
temptation  for  families  living  on  the  border  line  of 
want,  because  the  additional  income  appears  to  be 
almost  clear  gain.  No  more  rent  has  to  be  paid,  little 
more  for  fuel  and  light,  and  even  the  food  bills  are  not 
increased  proportionately.  The  elements  of  the  stand- 
ard of  living  which  suffer  are  those  which  are  less  tangi- 
ble, and  cannot  be  measured  in  money  —  privacy,  family 
life,  decency,  air,  light,  and  rest  and  leisure  for  the 
housewife.  The  additional  income,  however,  is  very 
concrete.  Once  a  family  adopts  the  expedient  of  taking 
an  outsider  under  its  roof,  the  tendency  is  to  take  in 
others,  one  after  another,  until  every  available  foot  of 
space  is  occupied,  and  the  limit  of  congestion  is  reached. 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  101 

Hours  of  work.  Before  turning  to  the  question  of 
outgo,  there  is  one  other  matter  connected  with  income 
which  must  be  noted.  This  is  the  amount  of  labor  tune 
expended  in  securing  the  income.  Leisure  is  a  most 
important  element  in  the  standard  of  living.  Of  two 
men  who  earn  the  same  wages,  the  one  who  works  only 
eight  hours  a  day  will  be  able  to  provide  a  higher  stand- 
ard for  his  family  than  the  one  who  works  ten  hours. 
This  matter  of  leisure  is  of  especial  importance  in  modern 
societies  for  the  reason,  mentioned  above,  that  there  is 
little  pleasure  in  work  itself  for  most  laborers,  and  people 
really  live  for  what  they  do  in  their  leisure  hours. 

In  respect  to  hours  there  has  been  a  greater  improve- 
ment over  the  conditions  which  prevailed  during  the 
early  years  of  the  Industrial  Revolution  than  in  almost 
any  other  phase  of  factory  life.  Early  in  the  nineteenth 
century  small  children  were  customarily  kept  at  work  in 
the  factories  twelve,  fourteen,  sometimes  even  sixteen 
or  more  hours  a  day,  and  the  working  day  of  adults  cor- 
responded. Since  that  time  the  hours  of  women  and 
children  have  been  progressively  limited,  and  now  a 
twelve-hour  day,  even  for  adult  men,  is  becoming  rarer 
every  year.  Ten,  nine,  and  eight  hour  days  are  the  rule 
in  most  industries  in  advanced  countries.  The  average 
working  day  has  been  estimated  at  eight  hours  for 
Australia,  nine  hours  for  Great  Britain,  nine  and  three 
quarters  hours  for  the  United  States,  and  longer  for  all 
other  countries  except  Denmark.49 

Outgo.  To  reduce  the  outgo  of  the  "standard" 
family  to  concrete  terms  is  much  less  simple  than  in 
the  case  of  income.  Both  are  measured  in  terms  of 
money,  and  the  total  mounts  are  identical,  since  every 
family  spends  all  it  earns,  inasmuch  as  saving,  benevo- 


102  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

lence,  etc.,  are  parts  of  outgo.  But  the  items  of  outgo 
are  much  more  numerous  and  varied  than  those  of  in- 
come, and  much  harder  to  reduce  to  a  representative  type. 
The  first  step  is  to  divide  the  total  outgo  into  certain 
great  classes.  The  pattern  for  this  process  has  been  set 
by  Dr.  Ernst  Engel,  a  noted  Prussian  statistician,  whose 
studies  on  the  standard  of  living  have  become  classic. 

Two  classes  of  expenditure.  There  are  to  be  distin- 
guished two  chief  classes  of  expenditures  for  every 
family,  which  may  be  designated  essentials  and  non- 
essentials,  or  necessaries  and  luxuries.  In  the  former 
class  belong  all  expenditures  which  go  for  merely  sus- 
taining life  at  a  fair  degree  of  efficiency;  in  the  latter 
class  all  expenditures  for  pleasure,  positive  happiness, 
peace  of  mind,  etc.  Following  the  classification  made 
by  James  MacKaye  expenditures  of  the  first  class  go  for 
satisfying  needs,  those  of  the  second  class  for  gratifying 
tastes.50  The  first  sort  of  outgo  secures  little  more  than 
the  avoidance  of  pain ;  when  all  of  these  expenses  have 
been  met,  there  is  little  if  any  surplus  of  happiness,  and 
if  outgo  stopped  there  life  would  practically  not  be 
worth  living.  Outgo  of  the  second  sort  provides  pleas- 
ure; it  is,  as  Professor  Chapin  has  pointed  out,51  for 
the  sake  of  the  items  included  in  the  second  category 
that  we  all  live.  Consequently  the  amount  or  propor- 
tion of  outgo  available  to  a  family  for  expenditures  of 
this  sort  is  the  best  possible  single  index  of  the  height  of 
its  standard  of  living.  The  importance  and  variety  of 
the  interests  served  by  the  second  division  of  outgo  has 
led  to  their  being  called  "culture  wants,"  and  this  is 
perhaps  the  best  term  by  which  to  refer  to  them. 

Necessaries  may  easily  be  divided  into  four  main  • 
items  —  food,  shelter,  clothing,  heat  and  light.     These 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 


103 


include  practically  all  the  primary  needs  of  man  as  an 
individual.  The  subdivision  of  culture  wants  is  much 
less  simple,  since  their  variety  is  almost  infinite.  In 
treating  of  the  wage-earning  class  many  things  will  be 
included  here  which  would  be  regarded  as  necessaries  by 
families  higher  up  in  the  economic  scale.  Commonly 
included  in  this  division  of  outgo,  in  studies  of  the  work- 
ing classes,  are  expenditures  for  health,  religion,  educa- 
tion, saving,  insurance,  recreation,  artistic  development, 
etc.  The  division  between  necessaries  and  culture  wants 
is,  of  course,  not  absolute,  and  varies  with  the  general 
standard  of  living  of  societies.  Things  may  reasonably 
be  regarded  as  necessaries  in  the  United  States  which 
would  be  classed  as  luxuries  in  Patagonia. 

Apportionment  of  outgo.  The  results  of  Dr.  Engel's 
studies  of  the  budgets  of  working  families  have  been 
summarized  in  the  following  schedule  of  expenditures, 
graded  according  to  income  groups : 52 


OBJECT  OF  EXPENDITURE 

PERCENTAGE  OF  TOTAL  FAMILY  EXPENDITURE  FOR 
AVERAGE  FAMILY  WITH  AN  INCOME  OF 

Necessaries 

|226-$300 

|450  ?600 

$750-11,000 

Subsistence    
Clothing    

62 
16 

12 

5 

55 
18 

12 

5 

50 
18 

12 

5 

Lodging     

Firing  and  lighting  .     .     . 

95 

2 

I 
I 
I 

90 
3-5 

2 
2 
2-5 

85 

5-S 
3 
3 
3-5 

Culture  Wants 

Legal  protection  .... 
Care  of  health    .... 
Comfort,  recreation      .     . 

5 

IO 

15 

104  .APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

From  this  table,  and  the  studies  upon  which  it  is  based, 
have  been  deduced  the  following  four  propositions, 
which  are  known  as  Engel's  laws : 

1.  As  the  family  income  increases,  a  smaller  percentage  is 
spent  for  food. 

2.  As  the  family  income  increases,  the  percentage  for  clothing 
remains  approximately  the  same. 

3.  With  all  incomes  investigated,  the  percentage  of  expendi- 
ture for  rent,  fuel,  and  light  remains  invariably  the  same. 

4.  As  income  increases  there  is  a  constantly  increasing  per- 
centage spent  for  education,  health,  recreation,  amusements,  etc.53 

These  laws  were  first  formulated  to  express  conditions 
in  Germany  at  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  But 
later  and  wider  investigations  have  shown  that  in  the 
main  they  express  universal  tendencies.  Only  minor 
modifications  are  necessary  to  make  them  express  the 
situation  in  any  modern  country.  The  following  set  of 
modified  Engel's  laws  has  been  worked  out  by  one  of 
the  best  authorities  on  the  subject  in  the  country  to 
represent  present-day  conditions  in  the  United  States : 

"As  the  income  increases : 

1.  The  proportionate  expenditure  for  food 

a.  decreases  for  the  country  at  large  from  50  per  cent  to  37 

per  cent,  but 
J.  in  New  York  City  it  amounts  to  almost  45  _per  cent  of  the 

total  outlay  until  an  income  of  $1000  is  attained. 

2.  There  is  a  strong  tendency  for  the  percentage  of  expendi- 
ture for  clothing  to  increase. 

3.  Relative  expenditures  for  housing 

a.  remain  about  constant  for  the  country  at  large,  falling 
very  slightly  after  $400  incomes  have  been  reached,  but 

6.  decrease  rapidly  from  30  per  cent,  or  more,  to  16  per  cent 
in  New  York  City. 

4.  Proportionate  expenditures  for  fuel  and  light  decrease. 

5.  Expenditure  for  culture  wants  increases  absolutely  and 
relatively."  M 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING 


105 


The  differences  between  New  York  City  and  the 
rest  of  the  country  are  significant,  as  revealing  the  tend- 
ency of  life  in  great  cities.  In  the  metropolis,  the 
rent  of  even  the  poorest  apartments  is  so  high  that  a 
smaller  proportion  is  spent  for  food  in  the  lowest  income 
groups  than  in  the  third  or  fourth  groups  higher  up. 
Food  expenditures  may  be  pared  down  indefinitely,  but 
rent  not  below  a  certain  point. 

A  comparison  of  the  many  excellent  budget  studies 
which  have  been  made  with  reference  to  wage-earning 
families  in  the  United  States  shows  that  a  standard 
family,  composed  of  father,  mother,  and  three  children 
under  fourteen,  with  an  income  of  about  $600  a  year, 
would  apportion  their  outgo  about  as  follows : 


ITEM 

PERCENTAGE 

AMOUNT 

Food    

48 

$288 

Shelter      

20 

I2O 

Clothing    

12 

72 

Light  and  heat  

6 

l6 

Culture  wants    

14 

84 

Total     

IOO 

$6OO 

It  would  manifestly  be  beyond  the  scope  of  the  present 
volume  to  undertake  to  show  in  detail  just  what  goods 
are  represented  by  the  outgo  of  the  standard  family. 
No  two  families  spend  their  income  in  just  the  same  way. 
Some  sacrifice  food  for  the  sake  of  a  better  lodging; 
others  pinch  themselves  within  the  home  in  order  that 
they  may  make  a  good  appearance  when  they  go  out ; 
some  live  on  the  narrow  margin  of  subsistence  in  order 
that  they  may  save  a  little,  while  others  spend  as  they 
get,  and  leave  the  future  to  care  for  itself.  Any  one 


io6  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

interested  in  the  concrete  details  of  the  standard  of  living 
of  wage  earners'  families  may  find  an  abundance  of 
realistic  pictures  in  such  studies  as  Chapin's,  Kenngott's, 
Mrs.  More's,  and  others. 

The  adequacy  of  the  laborer's  standard.  Two  general 
questions,  however,  demand  consideration.  First,  how 
nearly  does  the  average  standard  of  living  of  the  laborers' 
families  approach  what  may  be  considered  a  reasonably 
adequate  basis  of  existence?  Second,  is  the  standard 
improving  or  deteriorating? 

With  reference  to  the  former  query,  it  may  be  briefly 
stated  that  a  family  with  an  income  of  $600  could  secure 
about  the  following  provisions  under  each  of  the  main 
heads :  For  the  amount  allotted  to  food,  a  sufficient 
amount  of  nourishment  for  a  standard  family  could  be 
secured,  provided  the  money  was  expended  wisely  and 
the  household  was  run  economically  —  more  so,  it  is  to 
be  feared,  than  could  reasonably  be  expected  of  any  but 
the  exceptional  housewife  in  wage-earning  families.  In 
the  way  of  shelter,  the  ordinary  accommodations  would 
be  represented  by  a  four-room  apartment  in  whatever 
sort  of  tenement  was  customary  in  the  locality.  As 
regards  clothing,  it  is  practically  impossible  to  see  how 
a  family  could  equip  itself  even  decently  on  the  amount 
allowed.  One  of  the  mysteries  which  remain  unsolved 
after  reviewing  the  various  budget  studies  is  how  labor- 
ers' families  manage  to  clothe  themselves  at  all.  The 
amount  available  for  heat  and  light  will  allow  the  mini- 
mum amount  of  lighting  of  the  apartment,  under  favor- 
able conditions,  and  very  insufficient  lighting  if,  as  often 
happens,  some  of  the  rooms  are  dark  or  gloomy.  Enough 
fuel  can  be  secured  to  provide  for  the  necessary  cooking, 
and  to  heat  one  room  —  the  kitchen,  of  course  — 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  107 

adequately  in  moderate  winter  weather.  In  the  severe 
cold  spells,  very  many  working  families  actually  suffer 
from  cold.  The  necessity  of  conserving  all  heat  leads 
to  the  practice  of  keeping  windows  closed,  and  shutting 
off  every  stray  breath  of  fresh  air  from  outside  as  far 
as  possible. 

There  remains  the  $84  allotted  for  culture  wants. 
Out  of  this  must  come  all  expenses  for  doctors  and 
medicines,  dentistry,  books,  pictures,  music,  recreation 
of  all  sorts,  insurance,  saving,  etc.  It  is  evident  that 
only  in  the  severest  sense  can  such  items  be  called  "non- 
essentials."  It  is  also  evident  that  only  the  most  meager 
provision  can  be  made  with  reference  to  any  one.  Den- 
tistry is  very  generally  neglected  —  it  is  cheaper  to  let 
one's  teeth  go  as  they  will,  and  get  a  set  of  false  ones 
when  necessary,  than  it  is  to  preserve  the  ones  Nature 
supplies.  The  inability  of  the  ordinary  working  family 
to  look  after  this  matter  —  due  partly  to  ignorance  as 
well  as  poverty  —  is  recognized  in  the  widespread  move- 
ment for  dental  hygiene  in  the  public  schools.  A  rela- 
tively large  amount  of  money  is  spent  on  insurance. 
This  is  largely  of  the  fraternal  sort,  and  largely  also  it 
takes  the  form  of  insurance  on  the  lives  of  young  children 
to  provide  for  their  burial  expenses  in  case  of  their  not 
improbable  death.  Sometimes  the  policy  is  turned  over 
to  the  undertaker  from  the  very  beginning.  All  lodge 
dues,  trade  union  payments,  etc.,  must  of  course  come 
out  of  this  portion  of  outgo.  Saving  is  almost  unknown 
among  families  of  this  class  —  it  is  clearly  out  of  the 
question.  Parents  rely  upon  their  children  to  look 
after  them  in  their  old  age,  as  they  have  looked  after 
their  own  parents.  A  family  with  a  number  of  children 
over  fourteen  years  of  age  is  regarded  as  in  a  favorable 


io8  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

economic  situation;  one  with  several  small  children  is 
considered  to  be  going  through  a  very  difficult  period, 
but  is  in  a  hopeful  situation  as  regards  the  future  if  only 
it  can  weather  the  existing  strain.  It  is  taken  for  granted 
that  practically  all  children  will  enter  wage  work  as  soon 
as  they  reach  the  legal  age,  whatever  that  may  be.  As 
for  the  remaining  items  of  culture  wants,  it  can  simply 
be  said  that  families  do  what  they  can,  but  in  many 
respects  they  are  forced  to  rely  on  agencies  which  are 
more  or  less  charitable  in  their  character,  thereby 
sacrificing  something  of  that  most  valuable  family  as- 
set, self-respect. 

Is  such  a  standard  as  this  reasonable  in  the  United 
States?  Many  students  think  not.  The  Special  Com- 
mittee on  Standard  of  Living  of  the  Eighth  New  York 
State  Conference  of  Charities  and  Corrections,  as  a  re- 
sult of  its  investigations  (later  embodied  in  Professor 
Chapin's  volume),  reported  its  convictions  as  follows: 
"$600-1700  is  wholly  inadequate  to  maintain  a  proper 
standard  of  living  and  no  self-respecting  family  should 
be  asked  or  expected  to  live  on  such  an  income."  "With 
an  income  of  between  $7oo-$8oo  a  family  can  barely 
support  itself,  provided  it  is  subject  to  no  extraordinary 
expenditures  by  reason  of  sickness,  death,  or  other 
untoward  circumstances.  Such  a  family  can  live 
without  charitable  assistance  through  exceptional  man- 
agement and  in  the  absence  of  emergencies."  "$825  is 
sufficient  for  the  average  family  of  five  individuals,  com- 
prising the  father,  mother,  and  three  children  under  14 
years  of  age,  to  maintain  a  fairly  proper  standard  of 
living  in  the  Borough  of  Manhattan."  55  It  will  be 
recalled*  that  the  largest  number  of  families  investigated 

*See  page  99. 


THE  STANDARD   OF  LIVING  109 

in  this  study  were  in  the  income  group  from  $700  to 
$799.  These  figures  of  course  refer  to  New  York  City 
where  both  incomes  and  expenses  are  higher  than  for 
the  rest  of  the  country.  What  has  been  said  above 
about  the  standard  family  with  an  income  of  $600  is 
supposed  to  represent  as  nearly  as  possible  average 
conditions  for  the  entire  country. 

Estimates  from  other  portions  of  the  United  States 
are  as  follows :  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics, 
$754.56  Charity  Organization  Society  of  Buffalo,  $634 
as  the  "lowest  tolerable  budget  which  will  allow  the  bare 
decencies  of  life  for  a  family  of  five."  57  Streightoff, 
$650  "as  the  extreme  low  limit  of  the  Living  Wage  in 
cities  of  the  North,  East,  and  West.  Probably  $600  is 
high  enough  for  the  cities  of  the  South.  At  this  wage 
there  can  be  no  saving,  and  a  minimum  of  pleasure."  58 

Comparing  these  various  estimates  of  the  minimum 
income,  which  will  provide  a  reasonable  standard  of 
living  for  the  ordinary  working  family,  with  the  aver- 
age actual  incomes  of  such  families,  as  summarized  in 
the  preceding  pages,  it  becomes  convincingly  clear  that 
even  the  average  standard  of  living  possible  to  wage 
earners'  families  in  this  country  is  likely  to  fall  below 
what  the  authorities  set  down  as  "proper"  or  "toler- 
able." And  in  this  connection  emphasis  must  once 
more  be  laid  on  the  fact  that  an  average  does  not  rep- 
resent anybody  in  particular.  There  will  be  many 
families  above  the  average,  but  probably  more  below. 
And  if  the  situation  of  an  average  family  is  so  unsatis- 
factory, what  must  be  the  conditions  of  those  who  are 
below  the  average ! 

Such  a  discussion  as  this  at  once  introduces  the  second 
conception  of  the  standard  of  living  —  that  of  an  ideal. 


no  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

The  average  standard  represents  things  as  they  are; 
the  "proper"  or  "tolerable"  standard  represents  things 
as  somebody  thinks  they  ought  to  be.  As  stated  pre- 
viously, the  latter  conception  has  its  own  value.  It  is 
undoubtedly  profitable  to  consider  actual  conditions  in 
the  light  of  what  may  be  considered  reasonable  in  the 
abstract.  It  is  fair  to  compare  the  amount  of  comfort 
enjoyed  by  the  wage-earning  class,  representing  two 
thirds  of  the  entire  population  of  the  United  States, 
with  the  total  amount  of  comfort  and  luxury  enjoyed 
in  a  country  so  favorably  situated,  so  progressive  and 
prosperous.  It  is  not  altogether  futile  even  to  try  to 
make  out  a  detailed  account  of  such  a  standard  as  it 
seems  reasonable  to  consider  should  be  within  the 
reach  of  every  industrious,  sober,  self-respecting  family 
in  the  country.  Such  comparisons  are  legitimate,  and 
certainly  lend  much  weight  to  the  opinions  of  those  who 
hold  that  the  wage  earners  of  this  country  are  com- 
pelled to  submit  to  a  standard  much  lower  than  the  gen- 
eral conditions  of  our  society  seem  to  justify. 

Nevertheless,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  low 
standard  of  living  of  the  wage-earning  classes  of  modern 
countries  is  an  absolutely  normal  situation.  It  is  per- 
fectly consistent  with  the  general  economic  organization. 
No  other  sort  of  standard  could  result  from  the  com- 
bination of  forces  and  factors  which  have  been  shown 
to  characterize  the  industrial  situation  in  progressive 
societies.  All  efforts  to  deal  with  the  general  standard 
of  the  laborers  must,  in  the  first  instance,  clearly  recog- 
nize the  normality  of  the  existing  type. 

The  course  of  the  laborer's  standard.  The  second  ques- 
tion of  general  interest  with  reference  to  the  standard 
of  living  of  wage-earning  families  is  the  rate  and  direc- 


THE   STANDARD  OF  LIVING  in 

tion  of  its  movement.  Is  it  improving,  or  deteriorating, 
and  how  fast  ?  This  is  a  matter  of  primary  importance. 
For  a  situation,  however  bad,  which  is  remedying  itself, 
may  perhaps  be  endured.  But  a  painful  situation 
which  offers  no  hope  of  amelioration,  or  even  threatens 
to  become  more  aggravated,  is  grievous  to  bear,  and 
calls  for  careful  consideration. 

The  mention  of  the  progress  of  the  standard  of  living 
at  once  calls  up  the  specter  of  the  "high  cost  of  living" 
which  has  haunted  all  classes  and  all  societies  so  con- 
stantly in  recent  years,  and  has  so  consistently  refused 
to  be  laid.  In  spite  of  the  immense  amount  of  discus- 
sion and  study  which  the  phenomenon  has  called  forth, 
there  is  still  current  in  the  popular  mind  a  great  deal 
of  misconception,  and  many  erroneous  notions,  as  to 
the  exact  nature  of  the  situation  covered  in  general  by 
the  phrase  mentioned.  This  confusion  is  largely  due  to 
the  failure  to  make  certain  simple  but  fundamental  dis- 
tinctions with  reference  to  the  concepts  involved. 

Distinction  between  cost  and  price.  The  first  of  these  is 
the  distinction  between  cost  and  price.  The  terms  are 
frequently  used  interchangeably,  and  many  writers  treat 
of  the  cost  of  living  and  the  prices  of  commodities  as  if 
they  were  one  and  the  same  thing.  A  moment's  con- 
sideration, however,  reveals  the  fact  that  there  is  a 
distinction  here  which  cannot  be  ignored.  While  there 
is  an  almost  unlimited  number  of  definitions  of  price, 
in  its  accepted  usage  the  term  refers  to  the  exchange 
value  of  commodities,  measured  in  terms  of  money. 
The  price  of  a  commodity  is  the  amount  of  money  which 
must  be  expended  to  secure  it.  Cost,  on  the  other 
hand,  refers  to  the  amount  of  pain,  effort,  or  suffering 
necessary  to  secure  a  commodity,  irrespective  of  the 


ii2  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

monetary  measure  of  that  sacrifice.  Cost  is  evidently 
much  the  more  important  concept.  Prices  are  purely 
relative  affairs.  Costs  are  absolute.  High  prices  in 
themselves  are  no  evil  and  work  no  hardship,  provided 
all  prices  are  equally  high.  High  costs  are  always  a 
hardship.  It  is  quite  possible  to  have  high  prices  and 
low  costs  in  one  society,  and  low  prices  and  high  costs 
in  another  society.  Costs,  in  general,  are  a  matter  of 
the  standard  of  living  of  societies ;  prices  are  a  matter 
of  the  amount  of  money  metals  and  various  other  purely 
relative  factors.  Thus  the  general  price  level  is  much 
higher  in  the  United  States  than  in  Italy.  But  the  aver- 
age cost  of  commodities  is  much  lower  here.  In  fact, 
high  prices  and  low  costs  quite  generally  go  together. 
If  the  term  "cost  of  living"  covers  anything  of  real 
significance,  it  is  because  it  does  actually  refer  to  cost, 
and  it  is  a  misleading  mistake  to  transfer  the  discus- 
sion to  the  field  of  prices,  except  in  so  far  as  they  are 
actually  indicative  of  costs.  In  a  given  society,  at  a 
given  time,  prices  are  a  fairly  reliable  general  index  of 
relative  costs. 

Distinction  between  high  and  rising.  The  second  dis- 
tinction which  must  be  made  is  that  between  high  costs 
and  prices,  and  rising  costs  and  prices.  It  was  stated 
just  now  that  high  prices  injure  nobody,  provided  that 
all  prices  are  correspondingly  high.  The  same  is  true 
of  rising  prices  —  they  injure  nobody  as  long  as  they  all 
rise  at  the  same  rate.*  In  real  life,  however,  prices 
never  do  all  rise  at  the  same  rate,  and  a  period  of  rising 

*  The  term  price  as  used  in  this  discussion  of  course  includes  prices 
of  all  sorts.  Any  monetary  payment  for  any  good,  commodity,  or  serv- 
ice of  any  sort,  including  labor  and  the  use  of  capital,  comes  under 
the  head  of  price. 


THE  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  113 

price  levels  affects  different  classes  very  differently,  some 
favorably,  some  prejudicially.  A  period  of  rising 
prices  has  its  problems  very  different  from  those  of  a 
state  of  high  prices,  as  Professor  Irving  Fisher  has  so 
clearly  shown  in  his  various  writings  on  the  subject. 
The  evils  are  practically  confined  to  the  period  of  rising 
prices.  When  the  rise  is  over,  and  conditions  have  be- 
come adjusted,  the  fact  that  the  resulting  price  level  is 
high,  in  itself  hurts  nobody. 

The  case  is  very  different  with  costs.  Rising  costs 
and  high  costs  are  both  undesirable.  The  one  indi- 
.cates  a  deterioration  in  the  conditions  of  the  society 
concerned,  the  other  reveals  a  definitely  unfortunate 
situation.  The  evils  of  rising  costs  are  not  eliminated 
when  the  transition  period  is  over.  Society  merely 
settles  down  to  endure  a  condition  worse  than  the  pre- 
vious one. 

Distinction  between  general  and  particular  costs.  The 
third  distinction,  and  the  one  of  special  interest  to  the 
wage  earner,  is  that  between  the  cost  of  things  in  gen- 
eral, and  the  cost  of  specific  classes  of  things.  Goods 
in  general  may  be  divided  into  classes,  the  cost  of  each  of 
which  may  fluctuate  independently  of  the  general  cost 
level.  The  most  important  classification  of  goods,  in 
this  connection,  is  that  already  referred  to  —  the  di- 
vision into  necessaries  and  luxuries.  This  is  evidently 
not  a  hard  and  fast  classification,  and  it  is  seldom  clearly 
revealed  in  statistical  tables.  But  it  is  a  very  real  and 
important  one,  and  has  a  vital  bearing  on  the  welfare 
of  the  lower  economic  classes  of  society. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  in  a  given  society,  the  cost  of 
necessaries  may  be  high  and  the  cost  of  luxuries  low, 
or  vice  versa.  Again,  it  is  possible  that  in  a  society 


H4  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

the  cost  of  necessaries  may  be  advancing  rapidly,  while 
the  cost  of  luxuries  remains  stationary,  or  even  declines. 
Such  a  condition  would  not  be  revealed  by  ordinary 
lists  of  prices  in  general,  nor  by  the  indexes  of  price 
levels  based  upon  them.  The  only  method  of  detecting 
it  would  be  to  make  separate  lists  of  necessaries  and 
luxuries,  and  to  compare  the  prices  of  each  list  with 
those  of  the  other,  and  with  the  general  average  of  prices. 
The  disproportionate  rise  in  the  cost  of  necessaries. 
There  is  much  reason  to  believe  that  exactly  this  con- 
dition has  prevailed  in  modern  countries  for  the  past 
quarter  of  a  century.  The  rise  in  prices  is  a  familiar, 
and  almost  universal,  phenomenon.  It  is  generally 
assumed  that  costs  have  risen  accordingly,  and  that  the 
rise  in  prices  and  costs  has  been  pretty  evenly  distrib- 
uted among  all  classes  of  commodities.  A  more  care- 
ful examination,  however,  reveals  the  fact  that  those 
commodities,  the  prices  of  which  have  risen  most  rapidly, 
are  the  ones  which  occupy  the  largest  place  in  the 
budget  of  wage-earning  families,  while  those  commodi- 
ties, the  prices  of  which  have  risen  in  less  degree,  or 
have  remained  stationary,  or  have  even  fallen,  are  those 
which  are  consumed  largely  by  the  well-to-do  classes, 
and  in  many  cases  by  them  alone.  If  a  typical  budget 
of  the  outgo  for  necessaries  of  a  wage-earning  family 
is  prepared,  and  the  prices  of  these  items  are  compared 
(by  means  of  index  figures,  price  lists,  etc.)  at  the  be- 
ginning and  end  of  a  period  of  twenty-five  years  or  so 
ending  in  a  recent  year,  the  fact  is  disclosed  that,  in 
spite  of  the  rise  in  money  wages,  it  would  take  a  larger 
proportion  of  the  income  of  a  laborer's  family  —  at  least 
in  the  unskilled  class — to  secure  exactly  the  same  com- 
modities at  the  end  of  the  period  than  at  the  beginning. 


THE  t  STANDARD  OF  LIVING  115 

As  a  result,  the  proportion  of  total  income  available  for 
culture  wants  is  smaller  now  than  it  was  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago,  which  is  the  best  possible  evidence  of  the 
fact  that  the  standard  of  living  is  lower  now  than  it  was 
then.  This  fall  in  the  standard  of  the  wage-earning 
class  seems  also  to  be  a  normal  accompaniment  of  our 
present  organization  of  industry.  This  condition  is  not 
confined  to  the  United  States,  but  has  been  discerned  in 
England,*  and  very  likely  exists  in  some  degree  in  other 
societies.59 

The  process  by  which  this  discrimination  between  the 
prices  of  necessaries  and  of  luxuries  is  brought  about 
may  be  briefly  sketched  as  follows:  The  productive 
forces  of  a  society  at  any  given  time  are  a  fixed  quan- 
tity, consisting  of  land,  labor,  capital,  and  organization. 
They  are  utilized  in  turning  out  goods  of  various  sorts 
in  definite  amounts.  With  the  lapse  of  time,  however, 
the  proportion  of  these  forces  employed  in  the  pro- 
duction of  various  classes  of  goods  may  be  altered. 
Land,  labor,  capital,  and  organization  may  be  diverted 
from  one  sort  of  production  to  another  —  from  the 
manufacture  of  bicyles  to  automobiles,  from  the  manu- 
facture of  cheap  woolens  to  expensive  silks,  from  the 
raising  of  wheat  to  the  provision  and  maintenance  of 
golf  links.  In  general,  the  proportion  of  the  total  pro- 
ductive forces  of  a  society  engaged  in  making  neces- 
saries and  luxuries  may  be  radically  altered.  At  any 
given  time,  the  distribution  of  production  among  the 
different  classes  of  goods  will  correspond  broadly  to 

*  "Even  if  money  wages  had  risen  equally  with  the  general  level  of 
prices,  this  excessive  rise  of  food  prices  would  have  involved  some  loss 
to  the  wage  earners."  Hobson,  J.  A.,  "  Gold,  Prices,  and  Wages," 
p.  118. 


n6  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

the  desires  of  those  who  dominate  and  control  pro- 
duction. And  as  time  passes,  the  changes  in  dis- 
tribution will  correspond  to  the  changes  in  the  desires 
of  this  class. 

Now,  as  has  been  shown,  the  control  of  industry  in 
modern  countries  resides  with  a  small  minority  of  the 
population.  They  are  the  capitalists.  They  own  the 
major  portion  of  the  characteristic  and  dominant  factor 
of  production  —  capital,  including  land  —  and  as  capital 
commands  labor  under  modern  conditions,  they  are 
able  also  to  direct  the  application  of  labor  to  a  very 
considerable  extent.  The  capitalist  class  being,  in 
general,  the  well-to-do  class,  it  follows  that  those  who 
control  industry  are  mainly  the  wealthier  members  of 
society.  Production  will  be  apportioned  practically 
according  to  their  wishes. 

The  wishes  of  the  wealthy  classes,  as  regards  the  dis- 
tribution of  production,  differ  radically  from  those  of 
the  laboring  classes.  The  latter,  practically  all  of  whose 
income  goes  for  necessaries,  are  interested  that  neces- 
saries and  simple  comforts  should  be  abundant  and 
cheap ;  they  care  nothing  about  the  price  or  cost  of 
luxuries,  which  they  never  expect  to  consume.  Only  a 
very  small  part  of  the  outgo  of  the  wealthy  classes,  on 
the  other  hand,  is  for  necessaries,  and  they  care  very 
little  if  the  price  of  this  class  of  commodities  is  doubled, 
if  thereby  productive  forces  may  be  set  free  to  turn  out 
the  more  elaborate  comforts,  and  luxuries,  in  abundance. 
Every  opportunity  will  therefore  be  utilized  to  con- 
centrate production  on  luxuries,  and  keep  the  produc- 
tion of  necessaries  down  to  a  minimum.  This  minimum 
is  represented  by  the  amount  necessary  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  laborers  on  a  standard  of  living  not  too 


THE   STANDARD  OF  LIVING  117 

different  from  that  which  is  customary  or  traditional  in 
the  society  involved. 

There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  this  is  the  tendency 
of  the  individualistic-capitalistic  organization  of  indus- 
try. It  must  be  recognized  that  there  are  many  forces 
which  tend  to  counteract  it,  and  prevent  its  reaching 
its  extreme  limit.  Nevertheless,  the  facts  of  the  case 
all  support  the  conviction  that  the  forces  back  of  this 
tendency  are  strong  enough  to  have  brought  about  a 
considerable  decline  in  the  standard  of  living  of  wage- 
earning  families,  in  the  United  States  at  least,  within  the 
past  quarter  of  a  century.60 


CHAPTER  VII 

PLANS   FOR  RAISING  THE   STANDARD   OF   LIVING 

The  nature  of  efforts  to  raise  the  standard  of  living. 
Since  a  low  standard  of  living  for  the  wage-earning  class 
is  a  normal  aspect  of  modern  economic  conditions,  it 
follows  that  efforts  to  raise  it  are  to  be  classed,  not  as 
attempts  to  bring  abnormality  into  conformity  with  the 
norm,  but  as  methods  for  advancing  the  present  normal 
into  correspondence  with  what  is  now  but  an  ideal. 
This,  it  is  to  be  observed,  is  a  perfectly  legitimate  and 
defensible  form  of  social  action.  Man's  intelligence, 
knowledge,  and  control  of  social  forces  have  advanced 
too  far  to  be  restricted  solely  to  attacking  pathological 
conditions  in  society.  They  warrant  his  invoking  the 
scientific  imagination  to  portray  a  new  norm,  which 
shall  conduce  more  fully  to  human  welfare,  and  devising 
expedients  which  will  bring  this  ideal  concept  into  reality. 

There  are  many  grounds  for  feeling  that  so  low  a  stand- 
ard as  now  prevails  among  laborers'  families  is  neither 
logically  defensible  on  the  grounds  of  abstract  justice, 
nor  intrinsically  desirable  from  the  point  of  view  of  ul- 
timate social  solidarity.  In  other  words,  dissatisfaction 
with  the  normal  type  of  economic  organization  in  indus- 
trial societies  is  well  founded.  Particularly,  the  working 
classes  themselves  are  not  to  be  blamed  if  they  feel  that 
their  material  rewards  are  not  proportioned  to  their  real 
contribution  to  production,  nor  to  their  actual  impor- 

1x8 


PLANS  FOR  RAISING  STANDARD  OF  LIVING     119 

tance  in  society,  and  if,  feeling  so,  they  seek  for  means  by 
which  the  situation  may  be  so  altered  as  to  secure  a  larger 
portion  of  society's  product  for  themselves. 

Inasmuch  as  the  existing  low  standard  is  attributable 
to  a  small  degree  of  economic  power  on  the  part  of 
the  laboring  class,  any  practical  methods  for  raising  the 
standard  must  involve  some  method  of  increasing  the 
power  of  labor  as  such.  This  may  conceivably  be  done 
through  the  efforts  of  the  laborers  themselves,  or  it  may 
be  done  by  society  as  a  whole.  In  the  latter  case,  it  im- 
plies a  more  or  less  arbitrary  transfer  of  power,  by  means 
of  social  coercion  of  some  sort,  from  the  more  favored 
classes  to  the  less  favored.  Systems  of  betterment 
have  been  proposed  and  put  into  operation  resting 
'upon  each  of  these  two  principles.  The  most  note- 
worthy instance  of  the  former  is  trade  unionism ;  of  the 
latter,  the  various  factory  acts,  housing  legislation,  food 
inspection  laws,  in  fact,  nearly  all  of  what  is  called  in 
general  "social  legislation,"  are  representative.  In  all 
of  these  latter  expedients,  society,  in  the  guise  of  the 
state,  exercises  its  power  to  deny  to  certain  favored  classes 
the  full  enjoyment  of  that  power  which  would  be  theirs 
under  unrestricted  competition.  The  benefits  thus  se- 
cured are  conferred  upon  the  weaker  classes,  who 
lack  the  power  to  secure  them  for  themselves  by  purely 
competitive  means.  Somewhat  the  same  sort  of  result 
is  secured  when  members  of  the  favored  classes,  unoffi- 
cially and  voluntarily,  yield  some  of  the  fruits  of  their 
natural  power  to  the  weaker  classes,  from  motives 
variously  styled  "charitable,"  "benevolent,"  "philan- 
thropic," etc. 

In  the  economic  field,  as  in  each  of  the  other  great  di- 
visions of  social  life,  the  systems  of  betterment  fall  into 


120  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

two  classes,  which  have  been  designated,  in  an  earlier 
paragraph,  the  specific  and  the  revolutionary.  Those 
which  call  for  consideration  in  the  present  connection 
are  the  specific  devices  for  improving  the  standard  of 
living  of  the  wage-earning  class.  There  are  also  revolu- 
tionary schemes  which  seek  the  same  end.  But  they 
propose  to  achieve  much  wider  results  than  the  mere 
elevation  of  the  laborer's  standard  of  living,  and  con- 
sequently will  best  be  considered  later  on. 

Trade  unionism.  Of  all  the  specific  devices  for  improv- 
ing the  standard  of  the  wage  earner,  none  compares  in 
importance  with  trade  unionism.  This  purpose  is  its 
chief  reason  for  existence  and  the  basis  of  its  main  claim 
to  support. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  reasons  for  the  present  dis- 
tribution of  power  between  the  capitalist  and  the 
laborer,  it  was  pointed  out  that  in  the  making  of  the  wage 
bargain  between  an  individual  employer  and  an  individ- 
ual laborer,  the  advantage  all  lay  with  the  former,  for 
the  reason  that  the  employment  of  a  certain  individual 
for  the  job  in  question  was  of  small  moment  to  him,  but 
of  vital  interest  to  the  laborer.  The  institution  of  trade 
unionism  is  based  on  the  recognition  of  this  fact.  There 
is  nothing  revolutionary  about  trade  unionism.  It 
takes  the  economic  organization  as  it  finds  it,  recognizes 
its  stability  and  inevitability,  and  squarely  faces  the 
task  of  increasing  the  power  of  the  laborer  without  alter- 
ing the  general  economic  constitution  of  society. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  trade  unionism,  the  weakness 
of  laborers  is  due  to  the  fact  that  they  act  as  indi- 
viduals. The  unimportance  of  labor  in  modern  produc- 
tion is  denied.  It  is  pointed  out  that  labor  is  absolutely 
essential  to  production,  now  as  always,  and  that  if  labor 


PLANS  FOR  RAISING  STANDARD  OF  LIVING     121 

were  eliminated  the  wheels  of  every  machine  in  existence 
would  stop  turning,  and  the  value  of  every  piece  of  pro- 
ductive capital  would  shrink  to  zero.  Labor  has  im- 
portance enough,  and  therefore  power  enough.  The 
trouble  is  that  the  power  is  broken  up  into  infinitesimal 
units,  and  therefore  cannot  be  effectively  exerted.  In 
order  that  labor  may  reap  the  full  benefit  of  the  power 
that  is  its  by  right  and  in  fact,  it  must  be  combined  into 
large  compact  units.  The  more  complete  the  combina- 
tion, the  greater  will  be  the  results.  The  principal 
human  relationship  in  which  this  new  power  is  to  find 
its  field  is  in  the  making  of  the  wage  bargain.  It  may  be 
said,  then,  that  the  soul  of  trade  unionism  is  "collec- 
tive bargaining."  This  bargain  includes  many  things 
besides  wages  —  hours,  factory  conditions,  methods  of 
payment,  etc.  —  and  trade  unions  render  many  serv- 
ices to  the  laborer  beside  strengthening  him  in  the  wage 
bargain  —  in  the  way  of  insurance,  education,  social 
diversion,  etc.  But  all  of  these  are  wholly  subsidiary 
to  the  great  aim  of  exerting  the  full  power  of  labor  to 
secure  the  best  possible  terms  in  making  the  wage  bargain. 

In  their  historical  development,  the  trade  unions  are 
the  offspring  to  a  certain  extent  of  the  old  craft  gilds. 
But  their  methods,  functions,  and  aims  are  radically 
different.  The  modern  trade  union  could  not  have  come 
into  existence  until  the  era  of  modern  industrialism,  and 
the  rise  of  a  wage-earning  class. 

The  trade  union,  very  early  in  its  history,  was  recog- 
nized as  an  efficient  device,  and  its  menace  clearly 
discerned,  by  the  privileged  classes,  particularly  of  Eng- 
land, where  it  first  achieved  importance.  All  the  power 
possessed  by  the  favored  elements  was  exerted  to  con- 
serve their  traditional  advantages,  and  the  trade  unions 


122  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

were  fought  with  every  possible  resource.  The  most 
effective  weapon  against  them  was  the  combination  laws, 
by  which  all  meetings  of  laborers  to  devise  means  to 
improve  their  conditions,  and  all  combined  action  to 
make  these  means  effective,  were  made  illegal.  For 
many  years  the  progress  of  the  unions  was  extremely 
slow,  and  was  won  at  great  cost.  It  was  not  until  1875 
that  they  were  entirely  freed  from  hampering  restrictions 
in  England.  In  the  United  States  the  great  need  for 
trade  unions  did  not  arise  until  considerably  later  than  in 
England,  and  the  restrictions  placed  upon  them  were  never 
so  severe  here  as  there.  Gradually,  in  all  industrial  coun- 
tries, the  increasing  solidarity  of  the  wage-earning  class, 
combined  with  the  growth  of  humanitarian  feeling  on  the 
part  of  many  of  those  whose  natural  interests  are  con- 
trary to  those  of  labor,  has  advanced  the  importance 
and  strength  of  trade  unionism,  until  it  is  now  a  factor 
which  has  to  be  seriously  reckoned  with  in  most  im- 
portant industries. 

As  the  name  implies,  trade  unions  are  organized  on 
the  basis  of  trades  or  occupations.  The  aim  is  to  com- 
bine in  a  single  organization  as  many  as  possible  of  those 
who  do  a  certain  sort  of  work,  in  order  that  that  class 
may  assert  its  importance  as  a  factor  in  production. 
These  various  unions  are  then  combined  into  larger  units, 
the  culmination  being  the  national  federation,  such  as  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  accomplishments  of 
trade  unionism  during  the  past  century  have  been  of 
primary  importance.  It  has  won  many  positive  gains 
for  labor,  and  has  presented  the  chief  barrier  —  apart 
from  humanitarian  feeling  —  which  has  prevented  the 
operation  of  natural  economic  forces  from  dragging  the 


PLANS  FOR  RAISING  STANDARD  OF  LIVING     123 

wage  earner  down  to  a  level  far  lower  than  that  which  he 
occupies  at  present.  The  claims  of  its  most  enthusiastic 
supporters,  as  to  its  past  achievements  and  its  future 
promise  alike,  are  very  likely  extreme.  But  it  is  the 
most  effective  agency  yet  devised  by  the  laborer  for  his 
own  protection. 

It  was  not  necessary  for  the  trade  union  movement  to 
reach  very  great  proportions  before  capitalists  and  em- 
ployers of  labor  realized  that  their  best  method  of  coun- 
teracting the  effects  of  the  new  institution  was  to  adopt 
for  themselves  the  very  principle  upon  which  it  rested  — 
that  of  combination.  It  has  already  been  observed  that 
the  natural  trend  of  capitalistic  production  is  toward 
combination.  The  trade  union  movement  added  one 
further  incentive.  As  a  result,  there  arose  various 
combinations  of  employers,  such  as  the  National  Manu- 
facturers' Association  in  the  United  States,  designed  to 
give  the  employing  class  the  same  advantages  of  consoli- 
dated power  that  the  trade  unions  give  the  laborers. 
And  once  organized,  it  appears  that  the  former  balance  of 
power  is  in  part  restored.  Combined  capital  is  stronger 
than  combined  labor,  for  the  same  reasons  that  the 
individual  capitalist  is  stronger  than  the  individual 
laborer,  and  the  margin  of  advantage  in  the  wage  bar- 
gain still  lies  definitely,  though  perhaps  not  to  so  great 
an  extent,  with  capital. 

It  is  obvious,  as  already  remarked,  that  the  relation- 
ship between  capital  and  labor  is  one  of  struggle  and  con- 
flict, and  that  occasionally  the  conflict  develops  into 
actual  war.  In  the  strict  economic  sense  the  interests 
of  capital  and  labor  are  of  necessity  antagonistic.  The 
interest  of  the  employer  is  to  get  as  much  work  done  as 
possible  for  the  least  amount  of  wages ;  the  interest  of 


124  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

the  laborer  is  to  get  the  largest  possible  payment  for  the 
least  amount  of  work.  The  necessity  of  production 
forces  these  opposed  factors  to  unite  and  cooperate. 
But  the  natural  anatgonism  is  never  eliminated.  Trade 
unions  and  employers'  associations  are  merely  methods  of 
organizing  the  struggle.  The  chief  weapon  of  the  union, 
when  it  comes  to  actual  warfare,  is  the  strike ;  that  of 
the  employer  is  the  lockout.  During  the  years  1881  to 
1905  there  were  in  the  United  States,  36,757  strikes,  in- 
volving 181,407  establishments  and  6,728,048  strikers. 
In  the  same  period  there  were  1546  lockouts,  involving 
18,547  establishments  and  716,231  employees  locked 
out.  The  total  number  of  employees  thrown  out  of 
work  was  considerably  larger  in  each  case,  since  the 
effects  of  industrial  war,  as  in  other  forms  of  war,  are 
largely  visited  upon  non-combatants.  Measured  by 
the  number  of  establishments  affected,  the  strikes  were 
successful  in  47.94  per  cent  of  the  total,  partly  successful 
in  15.28  per  cent,  and  failed  in  36.78  per  cent.  The 
lockouts  succeeded  in  57.20  per  cent,  partially  succeeded 
in  10.71  per  cent,  and  failed  in  32.09  per  cent  of  the  cases, 
as  measured  by  establishments.61 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  an  instrument  so  power- 
ful and  effective  as  the  trade  union,  in  the  hands  of  a 
body  of  people  no  more  intelligent,  self-controlled,  and 
responsible  than  the  average  wage-earning  group,  should 
not  sometimes  be  used  arbitrarily  and  tyrannically.  In 
the  early  years  of  trade  unionism  complaints  were 
numerous  and  well  founded  of  the  irresponsible  conduct 
of  trade  unions.  Agreements  were  made,  and  broken 
at  the  first  temptation ;  union  delegates  acted  beyond 
their  authority,  and  unions  repudiated  the  acts  of  their 
accredited  delegates.  Time  has  brought  improvement  in 


PLANS  FOR  RAISING  STANDARD  OF  LIVING     125 

these  matters.  Legal  responsibility  has  come  with  legal 
recognition.  Even  yet,  many  of  the  methods  of  the 
unions  fall  short  of  the  best  social  standards,  and  there 
is  too  much  of  a  tendency  to  regard  a  worthy  end  as  a 
justification  for  any  means.  There  is  a  constant  temp- 
tation to  inaugurate  strikes  on  the  basis  of  the  hope  of 
success  rather  than  of  justice.  Barring  the  time  lost, 
and  the  deprivation  incurred,  prospective  strikers  are 
likely  to  feel  that  they  have  everything  to  gain  and 
nothing  to  lose.  For  even  though  a  strike  fails,  the 
workers  seldom  go  back  to  conditions  worse  than  before, 
and  to  the  extent  to  which  the  strike  is  successful,  the 
gains  are  positive. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  general  public,  the  great 
objection  to  the  whole  system  of  strikes  and  lockouts  is 
that  they  constitute  war,  and  war  is  economically  waste- 
ful. Society  has  to  pay  a  part  of  the  bill,  though  it  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  particular  conflict.  Nevertheless, 
until  some  better  method  is  designed  of  safeguarding  the 
welfare  of  the  laboring  classes,  trade  unions  are  to  be 
commended  and  encouraged.  Wars  of  every  sort  are  a 
costly  means  of  advancing  the  ends  of  social  progress, 
and  all  reasonable  men  hope  for  their  elimination.  But 
they  are  better  than  no  means  at  all. 

Cooperation.  Next  to  trade  unions  in  the  list  of  wage 
earners'  schemes  for  the  betterment  of  their  standard, 
probably  comes  cooperation.  Various  schemes  are 
included  under  this  head,  but  the  principle  underlying 
them  is  the  same. 

Like  trade  unions,  cooperative  schemes  recognize  the 
existence  and  importance  of  capital  in  the  economic 
constitution  of  society.  But  they  differ  from  the  unions 
in  seeking  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  laborer,  not  by 


126  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

increasing  his  power  as  a  laborer,  but  by  enabling  him 
to  secure  some  of  the  benefits  of  the  capitalist.  It  has 
been  observed  that  the  amount  of  money  required  in 
modern  times  to  enable  a  man  to  become  an  independent 
producer,  or  to  enter  the  economic  life  as  a  capitalist, 
is  so  great  as  to  be  quite  beyond  the  hopes  of  the  average 
wage  earner.  Even  the  most  moderate  accumulation 
of  capital  through  saving  is  almost  out  of  the  question 
for  the  ordinary  laborer.  The  purpose  of  cooperation  is 
to  furnish  a  means  by  which  the  minute  savings  of  a 
large  number  of  people  may  be  combined  so  as  to  make 
them  effective  in  production,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
make  possible  the  accumulation  of  more  capital  by  reason 
of  the  saving  which  the  original  investment  permits. 
This  principle  finds  practical  expression  in  the  formation 
of  organizations  of  wage  earners  for  the  ownership  and 
conduct  of  business  enterprises,  thereby  securing  for 
themselves  both  the  interest  on  capital  and  the  profits 
of  management. 

Cooperative  ventures  may  be  divided  into  two  mam 
classes,  corresponding  to  the  two  chief  methods  of 
utilizing  capital  —  manufacturing  and  merchandising. 
These  are  commonly  referred  to  as  producers'  coopera- 
tion and  consumers'  cooperation.  A  more  accurate  des- 
ignation, perhaps,  would  be  productive  cooperation 
and  distributive  cooperation.  Consumers'  cooperation, 
strictly  speaking,  should  refer  to  buyers'  associations,  of 
which  there  are  many  in  existence,  but  which  are  of 
minor  importance. 

Of  the  two  chief  forms  of  cooperation,  the  distributive 
kind  has  been  much  more  widely  developed,  and  has 
achieved  much  more  marked  success.  The  reasons 
for  this  are  clear.  The  management  of  a  store,  especially 


PLANS  FOR  RAISING  STANDARD  OF  LIVING     127 

when  the  patrons  ar6  provided  in  advance,  is  a  much 
simpler  task  than  the  management  of  a  factory.  The 
capital  required  is  less,  on  the  average,  the  risks  are  not 
so  great,  and  the  ability  demanded  of  the  manager  is 
much  less.  One  of  the  chief  difficulties  encountered  by 
those  who  undertake  productive  cooperation  is  always 
the  question  of  management.  Either  they  must  content 
themselves  with  a  manager  secured  in  open  competition 
at  less  rates  than  ordinary  factory  owners  are  paying,  in 
which  case  the  enterprise  is  doomed  to  almost  certain 
failure ;  or  they  may  attempt  to  run  the  concern  through 
a  committee  chosen  from  their  own  number,  which  is 
equally  precarious ;  or  they  may  engage  an  able  manager 
at  ordinary  rates,  in  which  case  the  much-desired  profits 
of  management  are  largely  diverted  from  the  pockets  of 
the  cooperators.  Accordingly,  the  branches  of  pro- 
duction in  which  cooperation  has  been  most  successful 
are  those  of  a  simple  sort,  enjoying  a  certain  and  steady 
market,  and  involving  as  little  as  possible  of  the  specu- 
lative element.  Of  these  enterprises,  the  numerous 
cooperative  dairies  in  this  country  and  in  Europe  are 
typical. 

The  most  famous  instance  of  distributive  cooperation, 
which  has  furnished  the  model  for  almost  all  other  success- 
ful cooperative  stores,  is  the  Rochdale  Pioneers  of  Eng- 
land. This  organization  was  founded  in  1844  by  a  group 
of  twenty-eight  flannel  weavers,  in  the  town  of  Rochdale, 
who  drew  up  a  plan  for  a  cooperative  store.  From  this 
humble  beginning  the  movement  has  grown  to  enormous 
proportions.  In  1864  the  local  associations  were  federated 
for  wholesale  distribution,  and  centralized  cooperative 
manufacturing  was  begun  in  1873.  In  191 1  the  federated 
cooperative  associations  in  Great  Britain  comprised  over 


128  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

2,700,000  members,  who  jointly  owned  $60,000,000  of 
stock  in  trade,  $80,000,000  in  land,  buildings,  machinery, 
and  fixed  stock,  and  house  property  worth  $40,000,000. 
In  addition  to  these  sums  there  was  $95,000,000  otherwise 
invested.  The  sales  for  that  year  amounted  to  over 
$500,000,000  and  the  profits  saved  to  $60,000,000.  It 
is  to  be  noted,  that  manufacturing  done  by  the  federation 
is  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  cooperative  stores 
themselves,  and  is  subsidiary  to  the  selling  functions  of 
the  organization.  Thereby,  the  risks  attendant  upon 
ordinary  cooperative  production  are  eliminated,  and 
most  of  the  other  obstacles  obviated. 

The  principles  of  the  Rochdale  Pioneers  have  so 
thoroughly  justified  themselves,  both  by  their  own 
success,  and  by  the  very  general  failure  of  organizations 
which  have  departed  widely  from  them,  that  they  may  be 
set  down  almost  as  the  sine  qua  non  of  successful  distribu- 
tive cooperation.  Briefly  stated,  they  are :  Open  mem- 
bership, with  shares  of  a  low  denomination  —  say  $5.00, 
payable  on  the  installment  plan ;  Democratic  government 
—  one  vote  to  each  member,  irrespective  of  the  number  of 
shares  held ;  The  sale  of  pure  goods,  with  fair  measures,  at 
the  prevailing  market  price,  thereby  forestalling  the  an- 
tagonism of  individual  merchants ;  Cash  sales ;  The  pay- 
ment of  not  more  than  five  per  cent  interest  on  shares ; 
The  distribution  of  the  balance  of  the  profit  into  a  de- 
preciation and  reserve  fund,  an  educational  fund,  a  fund 
for  charity,  and  the  remainder  among  the  purchasers, 
whether  members  or  not,  on  the  basis  of  the  amount  of 
their  purchases.62 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  instance  of  cooperation 
in  the  United  States  is  the  farmers'  elevator  movement, 
which  lies  on  the  border  line  between  productive  and 


PLANS  FOR  RAISING  STANDARD  OF  LIVING     129 

distributive  cooperation.  This  movement  has  grown 
from  a  situation  when,  in  1903,  there  were  only  about 
thirty-five  farmers'  elevators  in  the  entire  grain  belt  of 
the  middle  western  states,  to  a  position  of  great  impor- 
tance. By  about  1914  there  were  nearly  1500  elevators 
in  Iowa,  Illinois,  Minnesota,  the  Dakotas,  Nebraska,  and 
Kansas.  They  owned  and  operated  elevator  property 
worth  at  least  $8,000,000,  and  handled  more  than 
200,000,000  bushels  of  grain,  besides  doing  much  in- 
cidental business  in  the  way  of  handling  coal,  lumber, 
etc.63 

Cooperation  in  agricultural  and  dairy  lines  has  been 
most  highly  developed  in  Denmark,  which  has  probably 
been  more  profoundly  influenced  by  the  cooperative 
movement  than  any  other  country  in  the  world.  It  is 
said  that  in  thirty  years  cooperation  "has  raised  the 
whole  country  from  poverty  to  prosperity  and  efficient 
democracy." 64  Germany,  also,  is  notable  for  the 
number  and  variety  of  its  cooperative  undertakings. 
Figures  for  1911  report  the  following  enterprises  of  a 
cooperative  nature  in  that  country  :  18,126  credit  socie- 
ties; 3303  dairy  or  milk-vending  societies;  3151  other 
agricultural  purchasing  or  selling  societies;  2355  con- 
sumers' societies  (cooperative  stores) ;  1107  other  indus- 
trial purchasing  and  selling  societies;  1167  building 
societies.65 

Within  certain  natural  limits,  there  appears  to  be  the 
possibility  of  a  great  future  for  this  method  of  improv- 
ing the  standard  of  living  of  the  common  people. 

The  two  systems  of  improvement  just  discussed  rest 
upon  the  initiative  of  the  working  classes  themselves. 
As  mentioned  in  an  earlier  paragraph,  there  are  other 
types  of  devices  for  raising  the  standard  of  the  wage 


I3o  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

earner  which  involve  increasing  his  economic  power  not 
by  his  own  efforts,  but  by  a  voluntary  or  enforced  trans- 
fer of  advantage  by  those  who  have  much  to  those  who 
have  little. 

Profit  sharing.  Three  of  the  foremost  devices  by  which 
capitalists  yield  a  part  of  their  natural  advantage  to 
their  employees  are  profit  sharing,  the  sliding  scale,  and 
"welfare  work."  In  each  of  these  cases  there  may  very 
probably  exist  the  conviction,  in  the  mind  of  the  em- 
ployer, that  his  plan  will  conduce  to  his  own  advantage 
in  the  long  run.  Nevertheless,  the  advantages  accorded 
to  the  laborers  are  such  as  they  could  not  secure  by 
their  own  efforts.  There  are  various  forms  of  profit  shar- 
ing. According  to  the  commonest  one,  the  profits  of  a 
concern,  above  a  certain  fixed  minimum,  are  distributed 
among  the  employees  on  the  basis  of  the  wages  received. 
Thus  every  worker  is  given  a  personal  interest  in  the 
success  of  the  business,  and  a  certain  esprit  de  corps  is 
established.  Usually  it  is  provided  that  any  employee 
who  leaves  the  concern  within  a  certain  fixed  period 
of  time  thereby  forfeits  his  bonus.  This  furnishes  an 
incentive  to  steadiness  of  employment.  The  logical 
weakness  of  profit  sharing  schemes  is  that,  to  be  entirely 
just,  they  ought  also  to  include  loss  sharing.  It  is  fair, 
in  the  abstract,  that  if  the  employees  are  to  profit  by  the 
success  of  the  business  in  good  times,  they  ought  also  to 
share  its  losses  in  bad  times.  But  this  is  out  of  the 
question  for  obvious  reasons,  the  chief  ones  being  that 
the  workers,  at  the  best  of  times,  are  not  prepared  to 
stand  any  losses,  and  that  inasmuch  as  the  workers  are 
not,  and  ordinarily  can  not  be,  admitted  into  the  man- 
agement of  the  business,  they  feel  that  they  should  not 
be  compelled  to  participate  in  the  effects  of  bad  judg- 


PLANS  FOR  RAISING  STANDARD  OF  LIVING     131 

ment  and  poor  management.  On  the  contrary,  workers 
who  have  become  habituated  to  a  regular  bonus  for  a 
number  of  years,  come  to  look  upon  it  as  a  right,  and  re- 
sent its  loss,  even  when  amply  warranted  by  market 
conditions.  The  industries  in  which  profit  sharing  is 
likely  to  be  most  successful  are  those  involving  the  least 
risk,  and  subjected  to  the  fewest  fluctuations  of  demand 
and  profit.  Recently,  in  the  United  States,  the  eyes  of 
students  of  economic  affairs  have  been  fixed  on  the  so- 
called  profit  sharing  scheme  established  in  the  Ford 
automobile  works.  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that 
this  is  not  strictly  a  system  of  profit  sharing,  but  a  sort 
of  combination  of  profit  sharing  and  minimum  wage. 
The  amount  of  the  bonus  is  fixed  in  advance,  and  the 
additional  payment  is  included  in  the  weekly  pay  enve- 
lope. The  bonus  is  not  apportioned  on  the  pro  rata  wage 
basis,  but  is  determined  by  adding  to  the  wages  in  force 
previously  a  sum  sufficient  to  bring  the  total  daily  in- 
come up  to  $5,  $6,  and  $7  respectively  for  different  grades 
of  workers.  While  it  is  too  early  yet  to  judge  of  the  final 
results  of  the  scheme,  the  best  data  available  indicate  a 
very  remarkable  improvement  both  in  the  standard  of 
living  and  habits  of  life  of  the  workers  and  the  efficiency 
of  the  plant.  The  Ford  management  states  frankly  that 
it  expects  its  workers  to  make  up  for  their  increased  pay 
by  increased  efficiency.  Systems  of  factory  manage- 
ment and  efficiency  often  include  bonus  plans. 

Sliding  scale.  The  sliding  scale  involves  a  wage  pay- 
ment varying  according  to  the  selling  price  of  the  product, 
though  wages  may  never  fall  below  a  certain  fixed  mini- 
mum. The  logical  weakness  of  this  plan  is  that  prices 
do  not  vary  in  direct  ratio,  but  rather  in  inverse  ratio, 
with  the  efforts  of  the  worker.  For  if  the  workers  succeed, 


132  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

by  extra  efforts,  in  largely  increasing  the  amount  of  the 
product,  the  tendency  will  be  for  the  price  to  fall,  though 
the  profits  of  the  concern  may  increase.  Nevertheless, 
this  device  has  had  a  measure  of  success  in  some  indus- 
tries, as  mining,  and  the  iron  and  steel  industries. 

Welfare  work.  Under  the  head  of  "welfare  work"  are 
included  all  those  methods  by  which  the  employer  im- 
proves directly  the  standard  of  living  of  his  workers, 
particularly  in  connection  with  their  factory  life.  The 
provision  of  restaurants,  libraries,  gymnasiums,  parks, 
etc.  in  connection  with  the  factory,  the  building  of 
model  homes,  etc.,  are  cases  in  point.  Here,  too,  the 
employers  often  look  for  a  financial  return  in  the  in- 
creased efficiency  of  the  laborers.  The  chief  drawback 
to  measures  of  this  sort  is  that  they  tend  to  infringe  the 
feeling  of  independence  of  the  workers,  who  are  likely 
to  look  upon  them  as  substitutes  for  just  wages.  Aside 
from  actual  factory  conditions,  which  of  course  ought 
always  to  be  the  best  possible,  it  certainly  would  be  pref- 
erable, if  it  were  possible,  to  pay  such  wages  that  the 
workers  could  supply  their  own  needs  for  education,  rec- 
reation, good  food  and  shelter  rather  than  to  have  these 
needs  met  by  any  practice  which  savors  of  benevolence. 

Social  legislation.  There  remain  to  be  noted  those  de- 
vices for  raising  the  standard  of  the  wage  earner  by 
which  power  is  compulsorily  diverted  from  the  stronger 
to  the  weaker  members  of  society,  by  the  action  of 
organized  society  itself,  —  in  short,  the  legal  methods. 
As  already  suggested,  the  number  of  these  is  legion,  and 
for  the  most  part  they  concern  themselves  with  prevent- 
ing the  standard  from  falling  to  an  abnormal  state,  rather 
than  advancing  it  to  a  condition  above  the  present 
normal.  Consequently,  they  can  best  be  considered 


PLANS  FOR  RAISING  STANDARD  OF  LIVING     133 

in  a  later  connection.  It  should  be  observed  in  passing, 
however,  that  although  these  measures  owe  their  exist- 
ence in  part  to  the  activity  of  the  workers  themselves, 
yet  many,  if  not  most  of  them,  would  never  have  been 
possible  if  there  had  not  been  a  noteworthy  number  of 
the  more  powerful  and  favored  classes  whose  motives 
extended  beyond  mere  self-interest,  and  who  were  will- 
ing to  see  measures  put  into  operation  which  would  cur- 
tail their  own  natural  power  and  consequent  profit,  in 
the  interests  of  the  weaker  members  of  society.  With- 
out the  support  of  countless  altruists  among  the  well- 
to-do  classes,  the  wage  earners  alone  could  never  have 
maintained  their  standard  even  at  the  level  where  it  is 
now. 

The  minimum  wage.  There  is,  however,  one  set  of 
measures  which  aims  so  directly  at  improving  the 
standard  of  the  wage  earners  by  increasing  their  income, 
that  they  may  well  be  considered  in  this  connection. 
These  fall  under  the  general  head  of  minimum  wage  legis- 
lation. 

A  society  which  adopts  any  form  of  official  regulation 
of  wages  breaks  absolutely  with  the  old  laissez-faire 
doctrin6  of  economic  utility.  It  abandons  the  theory 
that  the  most  desirable  wage  adjustment  will  result  from 
the  free  and  unhampered  play  of  economic  forces  as  be- 
tween individuals,  and  in  its  place  erects  the  doctrine 
that  the  absolute  welfare  of  wage  earners  is  of  greater 
importance  than  any  amount  of  theoretical  freedom  and 
liberty,  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  organized  society  to 
provide  that  the  standard  of  its  workers  shall  not  fall 
below  a  certain  point.  Consequently,  it  is  only  the  most 
progressive  societies  that  have  sufficiently  freed  them- 
selves from  the  tremendous  weight  of  the  laissez-faire 


134  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

tradition  to  put  into  operation  anything  in  the  way  of  a 
legal  minimum  wage.  And  in  even  the  most  progressive 
societies  it  is  a  relatively  modern  movement. 

The  underlying  theory  of  the  minimum  wage  may  be 
briefly  stated  as  follows :  The  history  of  the  nineteenth 
century  demonstrated  beyond  reasonable  doubt  the 
fact  that  if  the  arrangements  between  capitalists  and 
laborers  are  left  entirely  without  legal  control,  the  great 
margin  of  power  possessed  by  the  capitalists  will  enable 
them  to  force  upon  the  laborers  conditions  which  are 
neither  equitable  in  the  abstract  nor  conducive  to  social 
solidarity,  stability,  and  progress.  Accordingly,  society 
must  use  its  authority  to  prevent  the  utter  degradation 
of  its  weaker  members,  and  the  best  way  is  the  most 
direct  way,  that  is,  to  fix  a  minimum  below  which  the 
remuneration  of  the  workers  shall  not  be  allowed  to  fall. 
It  is  pointed  out  that  this  does  not  eliminate  competi- 
tion, but  fixes  the  plane  above  which  competition  shall 
operate.  The  justification  for  this  action  lies  in  the 
unity  of  social  interests,  and  the  consequent  right  of 
society  to  adjust  power  and  advantage  in  a  way  which 
would  seem  arbitrary  from  the  strictly  economic  point 
of  view,  but  is  logical  from  the  social  standpoint. 

A  modified  form  of  minimum  wage,  which  rests  on 
somewhat  different  principles,  is  that  which  limits  its 
operation  to  women  and  children,  or  either  class  alone. 
The  end  aimed  at  by  these  measures  is  the  protection 
of  public  health  and  morals,  rather  than  the  safeguarding 
of  the  standard  of  living,  and  the  power  of  the  state  which 
is  primarily  invoked  is  the  police  power.  The  arguments 
for  and  against  this  form  of  minimum  wage  are  of  a 
different  sort  from  those  which  apply  to  the  general 
minimum  wage. 


PLANS  FOR  RAISING  STANDARD  OF  LIVING     135 

The  arguments  against  the  general  minimum  wage  are 
of  two  chief  sorts  —  first,  that  it  infringes  individual 
rights  and  personal  liberty,  and  second,  that  it  will  not 
work.  There  is  no  room  for  discussion  of  the  first  class 
of  objections  —  they  must  be  granted  at  once,  as  observed 
above.  To  one  whose  philosophy  of  life  forbids  him  to 
accept  anything  which  runs  counter  to  the  old  laissez- 
faire  notion  of  rights  and  liberties  the  minimum  wage 
stands  condemned  on  the  face  of  it.  There  is  nothing 
more  to  be  said. 

Objections  of  the  other  sort  call  for  some  consideration. 
These  arguments,  and  the  answers  to  them,  may  be 
briefly  summed  up  as  follows :  (i)  The  minimum  wage 
will  not  benefit  the  wage  earner,  because  the  additional 
cost  of  production  represented  by  his  increased  earnings 
will  be  added  to  the  selling  price,  and  will  increase  his 
cost  of  living  by  just  so  much.  If  labor  cost  were  the 
only  element  in  the  cost  of  production,  and  if  prices  were 
closely  adjusted  to  cost  of  production,  this  argument 
would  have  much  weight.  In  fact,  wages  are  only  one 
element  in  the  cost  of  production,  often  a  very  small  one. 
Wages  which  are  now  above  the  proposed  minimum 
would  not  necessarily  be  raised  at  all.  In  lines  of  pro- 
duction where  there  is  more  or  less  of  monopoly,  prices 
are  not  fixed  on  the  basis  of  cost  of  production,  but  on 
the  basis  of  maximum  net  profit.  Taking  all  these 
things  together,  it  is  clear  that  the  increased  cost  result- 
ing from  increased  wages,  which  would  go  directly  to 
augment  the  income  of  the  poorer  paid  laborers,  would 
be  so  thoroughly  distributed  and  disseminated  through- 
out production  as  to  raise  the  price  level  little,  if  at  all. 
It  would  merely  accomplish  a  sort  of  taking  up  of  slack 
between  cost  and  price.  Furthermore,  it  is  probable 


136  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

that  the  increased  efficiency  of  the  workers,  resulting 
from  their  higher  standard,  would  so  increase  their  pro- 
ductivity as  to  offset  the  increased  cost  of  their  labor. 
(2)  The  increased  cost  of  production  would  drive  out  of 
business  certain  industries  now  operating  on  a  narrow 
margin  of  profit.  As  to  the  truth  of  this  assertion,  ex- 
perience alone  can  furnish  a  demonstration.  One 
thing,  however,  is  certain.  Any  industry  which  would 
be  driven  out  of  business  by  a  reasonable  minimum  wage 
ought  to  be  driven  out  of  business.  Society  has  no  right 
to  demand  the  continued  production  of  goods  for  which 
it  does  not  care  enough  to  pay  a  price  sufficiently  high 
to  provide  a  decent  livelihood  for  the  workers  engaged 
in  the  production.  (3)  The  minimum  wage  tends  also 
to  become  the  maximum  wage.  Employers  make  up 
for  the  better  wages  of  the  poorer  workers  by  cutting 
down  the  pay  of  the  better  workers.  This,  again,  is  a 
question  to  be  settled  by  experience.  There  is  no  ra- 
tional ground  for  expecting  it.  The  competition  of  em- 
ployers for  the  better  grade  of  laborers  would  be  just  as 
keen  as  ever,  and  the  laborer  who  had  justified  his  em- 
ployer in  paying  him  high  wages  would  continue  to  do  so. 
(4)  The  minimum  wage  is  hard  to  enforce,  and  has 
disagreeable  inquisitorial  features.  There  seems  to  be 
much  truth  in  these  arguments.  The  only  question  is, 
whether  the  drawbacks  more  than  outweigh  the  ad- 
vantages. (5)  The  minimum  wage  will  throw  out  of 
employment  all  of  those  who  are  not  competent  to  earn 
the  minimum  —  who  do  not  actually  produce  as  much 
as  they  would  have  to  be  paid,  —  and  society  would  have 
to  assume  the  support  of  these  individuals  and  their  fami- 
lies. Some  results  of  this  sort  will  undoubtedly  follow 
the  introduction  of  the  minimum  wage.  It  is  possible 


PLANS  FOR  RAISING  STANDARD  OF  LIVING     137 

to  provide  for  some  of  these  by  establishing  a  class  of 
slow  workers  as  is  done  in  Australia.  But  society  would 
have  to  face  the  burden  of  supporting  some,  without 
doubt.  It  is  better,  however,  that  society  should  wholly 
support  a  few  incompetent  and  abnormal  families  than 
that  they,  by  their  competition,  should  drag  down  the 
standard  of  the  whole  group  of  wage  earners. 

The  only  countries  in  which  the  general  minimum 
wage  has  been  in  effect  on  a  broad  enough  scale  and  for 
a  long  enough  time  to  furnish  grounds  for  general  conclu- 
sions are  those  of  the  Australian  federation.  According 
to  the  best  reports  as  to  the  results  of  these  laws  it  ap- 
pears that  the  Australian  experiments  afford  a  practical 
refutation  of  all  the  stock  arguments  against  the  system. 
Wages  and  the  standard  of  living  have  been  very  mate- 
rially raised;  prices  have  not  been  seriously  affected; 
industries  have  not  been  driven  out  .of  business ;  no  seri- 
ous amount  of  unemployment  or  burden  of  pauperism 
has  resulted.66 

England  has  recently  introduced  the  minimum  wage 
into  a  few  trades,  particularly  those  where  wages  and 
working  conditions  were  worst,  the  sweated  trades.  Up 
to  the  present,  the  experiment  has  apparently  been  mark- 
edly successful.  In  the  United  States  nine  states  have 
passed  minimum  wage  laws,  but  they  are  all  of  the  re- 
stricted type,  limited  to  women  and  children.67 


CHAPTER  VIII 

DOUBTFUL  CASES.      ECONOMIC  IMMORALITY 

Social  restraints  on  economic  abnormality.  Because  of 
the  primary  importance  and  great  variety  of  the  eco- 
nomic interests  in  human  life,  it  is  inevitable  that  there 
should  be  a  large  number  of  abnormalities  of  all  sorts 
connected  with  this  group  of  social  activities.  That 
there  are  not  more  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  interests 
at  stake  are  fundamental  and  vital.  Societies  cannot 
afford  to  tolerate  more  than  a  limited  amount  of  abnor- 
mality in  this  department  of  life.  Any  society  which 
grows  too  careless  in  this  respect,  marks  itself  out  for 
elimination. 

Woman  labor.  Before  taking  up  the  abnormal  as- 
pects of  the  economic  life  of  modern  societies,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  glance  briefly  at  two  great  phenomena  which  it 
is  very  difficult  to  place  as  regards  their  normality. 
The  first  of  these  is  the  work  for  wages  of  women  in 
industrial  pursuits.  This  is  treated  by  many  writers  as 
if  it  were  in  itself  abnormal,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
it  presents  many  abnormal  features.  Yet  it  has  become 
so  thoroughly  incorporated  in  modern  economic  life 
that,  as  an  institution,  it  must  be  accepted  as  normal. 
Out  of  a  total  of  303  occupations  listed  in  the  United 
States  Census  of  1900  there  are  only  seven  in  which  no 
women  appear.  The  classification  of  occupations  in  the 
Census  of  1910  is  much  more  minute,  and  there  are 

138 


DOUBTFUL  CASES.   ECONOMIC  IMMORALITY    139 

accordingly  more  in  which  no  women  are  found.  But 
the  fact  is  that  there  are  practically  no  important  occu- 
pations in  twentieth  century  societies  in  which  women 
have  not  entered  as  independent  wage  earners.  The 
abnormalities,  then,  must  be  in  some  of  the  incidental 
aspects  of  the  system,  rather  than  in  the  institution  itself. 

The  explanation  seems  to  be  simply  this :  Because 
of  the  great  economic  changes  involved  in  the  industrial 
and  commercial  revolutions  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
the  maintenance  mores  of  western  nations  have  been 
going  through  a  transition  period  involving  most  stu- 
pendous and  far-reaching  modifications.  From  sheer 
necessity,  a  general  consistency  has  been  preserved 
among  the  economic  mores  themselves.  But  as  regards 
the  other  mores,  which  are  dependent  on  the  economic 
mores  and  closely  connected  with  them,  there  has  been 
a  much  slower  development.  All  mores  possess  an 
enormous  amount  of  inertia,  and  change  only  in  response 
_to_Jrresistible  forces.  The  forces  of  economic  change 
were  sufficient  during  the  nineteenth  century  to  compel 
the  alteration  of  the  maintenance  mores.  But  the  other 
mores,  which  felt  these  forces  indirectly  and  in  a  trans- 
mitted form,  have  lagged  far  behind.  Consequently 
there  has  resulted  a  great  mass  of  inconsistencies  and 
false  adjustments  between  the  economic  mores  and 
those  of  other  departments  of  life,  particularly  of  mar- 
riage and  the  family.  The  anomalous  situation  of 
women  in  industry  is  largely  accounted  for  by  these 
inconsistencies  in  the  mores.  Some  of  them  will  be 
discussed  in  a  more  appropriate  connection  later. 

Poverty.  The  second  of  these  great  phenomena, 
whose  position  in  the  economic  classification  is  hard  to 
determine,  is  poverty.  Is  poverty  normal  or  abnormal  ? 


140  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

The  mere  asking  of  this  question  brings  up  the  further 
one,  What  is  meant  by  poverty?  And  in  searching  for 
the  answer  to  this  question  it  becomes  clear  that  the 
word  "poverty"  means  different  things  at  different 
times  and  in  different  connections.  In  our  common 
use  of  the  term  there  are  to  be  discerned  two  distinct 
ideas.  According  to  the  first  of  these,  poverty  is  a  purely 
relative  matter.  It  means  having  less  than  somebody 
else,  or  less  than  one  would  like  to  have.  This  is  one 
of  the  truest  and  most  significant  conceptions  of  poverty. 
For  the  sense  of  poverty  is  dependent  much  less  on  the 
absolute  amount  of  one's  possessions  than  on  the  rela- 
tion which  those  possessions  bear  to  those  of  others  in 
one's  society.  A  family  feels  poor,  and  is  poor,  in  New 
York  City  which  would  be  rich  among  the  Bushmen 
of  Africa.  If  an  individual  lives  in  a  community  where 
everybody  wears  homespun,  and  has  only  one  suit  at  a 
time,  wearing  it  as  long  as  it  will  hold  together,  it  is  no 
sign  of  poverty,  and  no  one  feels  it  a  hardship,  to  own 
but  one  suit  of  threadbare  homespun.  If  a  boy  grows 
up  in  a  village  from  which  no  one  goes  to  college,  and 
where  higher  education  is  merely  a  name,  it  is  no  mark 
of  poverty  not  to  go  to  college.  But  if  all  one's  com- 
panions are  richly  attired,  or  if  all  one's  boyhood  com- 
panions go  off  to  college,  then  to  wear  ragged  homespun 
and  to  be  compelled  to  leave  school  at  the  eighth  grade 
is  a  mark  of  poverty,  and  is  felt  as  such.  The  same  is 
true  of  riches.  The  time  was,  not  long  ago,  when  a 
millionaire  was  a  marked  man,  and  esteemed  amazingly 
wealthy.  Nowadays  a  man  must  be  many  times  a 
millionaire  to  cut  any  financial  figure  at  all. 

Herein  lies  the  fallacy  of  trying  to  determine  whether 
a  given  class  in  society  is  growing  richer  or  poorer  by 


DOUBTFUL  CASES.   ECONOMIC  IMMORALITY    141 

comparing  its  absolute  condition  with  that  of  the  cor- 
responding class  in  an  earlier  epoch.  In  these  days, 
nearly  everybody  lights  his  house  with  electricity,  gas, 
or  kerosene,  and  the  man  who  can  afford  nothing  but  a 
tallow  candle  feels  a  sense  of  poverty.  It  is  no  conso- 
lation to  him  to  remind  him  that  in  his  great-grand- 
father's day  the  richest  squire  used  the  same  form  of 
illumination.  In  the  days  before  modern  plumbing 
was  heard  of,  the  wealthiest  households  did  not  boast 
a  fully  equipped  bathroom.  In  the  twentieth  century, 
in  cities  at  least,  it  is  a  mark  of  a  certain  degree  of 
poverty  not  to  be  able  to  afford  an  apartment  which 
includes  modern  bathroom  facilities.  So  instances 
might  be  multiplied.  In  a  very  real  sense,  poverty  and 
riches  are  purely  relative  terms,  and  in  a  society  where 
the  general  standard  of  living  is  steadily  rising,  a  group 
whose  standard  is  stationary,  or  is  rising  at  a  slower 
rate,  may  truthfully  be  said  to  be  growing  poorer. 

In  this  sense,  poverty  is  unquestionably  normal.  It 
has  always  existed,  and  always  will  exist.  It  is  scarcely 
possible  to  conceive  of  a  society  so  organized  as  to  secure 
a  distribution  of  wealth  so  uniform  that  no  one  would 
feel  poor. 

But  there  is  another  equally  legitimate  conception  of 
the  term  "poverty,"  which  presents  a  wholly  different 
aspect.  This  is  the  absolute  lack  of  the  necessaries 
requisite  for  a  decent  or  efficient  livelihood.  Even  here, 
it  is  difficult  to  escape  entirely  the  influence  of  the  rela- 
tive conditions  of  different  societies.  But  there  is  a 
standard  which  approaches  the  absolute.  This  is  the 
amount  of  economic  goods  which  are  requisite  to  keep 
an  average  family  at  a  reasonable  degree  of  economic 
efficiency,  and  provide  for  the  efficiency  and  moral  and 


I42  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

physical  health  of  the  next  generation.  A  family  which 
lacks  these  bare  necessaries  may  be  said  to  be  poor  in  a 
very  different  sense  from  one  which  simply  feels  the 
difference  between  itself  and  its  well-to-do  neighbors. 
To  avoid  confusion  it  is  desirable  to  adopt  different 
terms  to  refer  to  these  two  types  of  want.  The  word 
"poverty"  may  be  confined  to  the  purely  relative  con- 
dition of  having  less  than  those  around  one.  Destitu- 
tion may  be  denned  as  that  condition  where  the  income 
of  a  family  is  insufficient  to  enable  it  to  maintain  the 
minimum  normal  standard  of  living  of  the  society  of 
which  it  is  a  part.*  So  denned, .  destitution  is  always 
abnormal. 

Economic  sin.  Turning  now  to  the  consideration  of 
the  various  types  of  economic  abnormality,  the  first 
matter  to  demand  attention  is  economic  sin.  By  eco- 
nomic sin  is  meant  all  activities  or  forms  of  conduct, 
entered  upon  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  which  are  branded 
as  immoral  by  the  social  code  of  one's  own  society.  At 
the  very  outset,  it  is  evident  that  in  this  department  of 
life  it  is  probably  more  difficult  than  in  any  other  to 
know  just  what  constitutes  sin.  The  dividing  line 
between  right  and  wrong  in  business  pursuits  is  very 
hazy,  and  difficult  to  discern.  It  is  never  exactly  the 
same  in  any  two  societies,  nor  in  the  same  society  in 
any  two  periods.  Among  the  Homeric  Greeks  it  was  a 

*  This  definition  is  purposely  worded  to  apply  to  families.  Destitu- 
tion is,  to  be  sure,  a  condition  which  may  apply  to  individuals  with- 
out family  ties.  But  the  number  of  individuals  who  entirely  lack 
relatives  near  enough  to  be  socially  accountable  for  their  support,  if 
they  are  able,  is  so  slight  as  not  to  vitiate  the  conception  of  destitution  as 
a  matter  of  the  family  standard  of  living.  Any  necessary  modifications 
of  the  definition  to  make  it  apply  to  such  rare  individuals  can  be  easily 
made. 


DOUBTFUL  CASES.    ECONOMIC  IMMORALITY    143 

sin  to  steal  cattle  from  the  members  of  one's  own  im- 
mediate tribe ;  but  to  steal  cattle  from  a  neighboring 
tribe  was  a  highly  meritorious  act.  In  modern  societies, 
stealing  is  discountenanced,  whatever  the  race  or 
nationality  of  the  victim.  At  the  present  day,  in  such 
countries  as  Turkey,  it  is  customary  and  right  for  a 
dealer  to  get  the  highest  price  he  can  for  his  wares,  by 
a  process  of  skillful  haggling;  the  business  morals  of 
western  nations  discountenance  such  practices. 

Particularly  within  very  recent  times  has  the  dis- 
cernment of  economic  sin  in  industrial  countries  become 
exceedingly  difficult.  The  immense  changes  of  the  in- 
dustrial and  commercial  revolutions,  and  the  conse- 
quent rapid  changes  in  the  mores,  have  left  modern 
societies  without  any  clean  cut  rules  of  business  ethics, 
or  criteria  of  conduct.  The  twentieth-century  business 
man  is  constantly  confronted  with  moral  problems, 
demanding  the  nicest  discrimination,  and  lacking  any 
well-established  precedents  as  guide. 

Professor  Edward  A.  Ross  has  discussed  this  whole 
matter  admirably,  particularly  in  his  book,  "Sin  and 
Society."  He  shows  that  the  entire  modern  organiza- 
tion of  society,  especially  in  the  economic  field,  has 
involved  new  conceptions  of  sin,  and  new  forms  of  wrong- 
doing. Modern  economic  sin  partakes  of  the  character 
of  most  modern  economic  relations  —  it  has  become 
impersonal,  systematic,  refined.  There  is  an  attenuated 
bond  between  the  sinner  and  his  victim.  The  typical 
sinner  of  to-day  no  longer  deprives  others  of  their  wealth 
by  highway  robbery  or  burglary,  but  by  manipulating 
stocks,  misusing  trust  funds,  and  selling  package  goods 
in  short  weight.  The  modern  method  of  taking  the 
lives  of  others  is  not  by  means  of  the  rapier  and  the 


144  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

bludgeon,  but  by  the  less  obvious  though  equally  cer- 
tain methods  of  adulterated  food,  inadequate  protection 
of  workers  in  factories  and  mines,  cutting  under  the 
specifications  in  building  contracts,  etc.  The  typical 
modern  sinner  usually  never  sees  his  victims,  and  fre- 
quently never  hears  of  them,  nor  knows  from  positive 
evidence  whether  there  have  been  any.  Thus  modern 
sin  has  lost  much  of  its  brutality,  vulgarity,  and  revolt- 
ing character,  along  with  its  loss  of  hand-to-hand 
methods.  This  is  what  makes  it  possible  for  some  of 
the  worst  of  twentieth-century  sinners  to  hold  eminent 
positions  in  the  community,  to  be  known  as  unexcep- 
tionable husbands  and  fathers,  and  to  keep  the  sincere 
respect  of  their  fellow  citizens.  The  currents  of  modern 
sin  run  far  below  the  surface,  and  escape  the  observa- 
tion of  the  average  citizen,  and  often  even  of  the  men 
who  are  primarily  responsible  for  them.  Occasionally 
there  comes  a  crash,  and  some  "eminent  citizen"  is 
shown  up  as  an  exploiter  of  woman  and  child  labor,  a 
wholesale  adulterator  of  food,  or  an  owner  of  houses  of 
prostitution.  With  respect  to  such  sinners,  however, 
the  community  is  likely  to  judge  tolerantly  and  deal 
leniently.  The  old  adage,  "Business  is  business,"  like 
the  mantle  of  charity,  covers  a  multitude  of  sins.  Let 
such  a  man  drop  out  of  the  public  eye,  and  remain 
obscure  for  a  time,  and  the  chances  are  that,  if  he  wishes, 
he  may  in  time  reinstate  himself  in  some  other  equally 
profitable,  and  no  more  commendable,  line  of  activity. 

Graft.  This  is  well  illustrated  by  those  various  forms 
of  unsocial  conduct  which  go  under  the  general  name  of 
graft.  Graft  is  the  economic  representative  of  the  sort 
of  conduct  known  as  corruption,  which  has  been  defined 
as  "the  intentional  misperformance  or  neglect  of  a 


DOUBTFUL  CASES.    ECONOMIC  IMMORALITY    145 

recognized  duty,  or  the  unwarranted  exercise  of  power, 
with  the  motive  of  gaining  some  advantage  more  or  less 
directly  personal."  68  Graft,  in  its  commonest  form,  re- 
sults from  the  interplay  of  interest  between  the  posses- 
sors of  the  two  great  forms  of  modern  power  —  the 
economic  and  the  political.  Corruption  may  appear, 
and  does  appear,  in  connection  with  every  important 
form  of  social  activity.  But  its  most  serious  and  most 
characteristic  manifestation  in  modern  societies  is  in  the 
field  of  business. 

The  origin  of  graft  is  perfectly  simple  to  understand. 
The  bulk  of  the  power  in  modern  societies  is  vested  in 
two  great  interests,  the  economic  and  the  political. 
Other  forms  of  power  still  exist,  but  hold  a  decidedly 
subordinate  place.  -Religious  power  still  persists,  but 
to  a  degree  insignificant  as  compared  with  medieval 
conditions.  The  power  of  family  or  birth  is  steadily 
diminishing.  Even  the  military  power,  though  at 
present*  in  the  ascendancy,  holds  a  much  inferior  place 
in  modern  societies  to  what  it  once  did.  In  modern  life 
business  and  politics  stand  supreme. 

Now,  just  as  in  medieval  society  there  was  a  continu- 
ous and  highly  important  interrelation  between  the 
ecclesiastical  interests  and  the  political  interests,  so 
to-day  there  is  a  parallel  connection  between  the  eco- 
nomic interests  and  the  political  interests.  This  con- 
nection takes  the  form  of  a  system  of  bargaining.  Each 
of  these  interests  has  something  to  give  to  the  other, 
and  something  to  gain  from  the  other,  because  the  power 
that  each  possesses  may  be  used  to  the  advantage  of  the 
other.  Because  of  the  growing  tendency  of  modern 
governments  to  extend  their  control  into  the  realm  of 

*IQl6 

& 


146  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

private  business,  the  success  of  business  in  general,  and 
of  specific  businesses  in  particular,  is  continually  depend- 
ent on  the  attitude  of  the  governing  agents.  Conse- 
quently, it  is  incumbent  on  the  business  men  to  keep 
themselves  in  the  good  graces  of  the  legislators  and 
administrators.  The  political  authorities,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  dependent  on  the  business  men  of  the  com- 
munity for  the  maintenance  of  their  power.  To  secure 
and  preserve  political  power  requires  votes,  and  votes 
cost  money,  —  in  legitimate  as  well  as  illegitimate  ways. 
Accordingly  the  politicians  are  continually  appealing  to 
the  business  men  for  the  sinews  of  war.  In  such  a  situa- 
tion as  this  a  bargain  is  bound  to  result.  The  two  things 
to  be  exchanged  are  money  and  patronage.  In  the 
simplest  terms  of  the  problem,  the  business  men  have 
the  money  and  the  politicians  have  the  patronage.  But 
in  actual  life,  while  this  division  of  power  still  remains 
typical,  each  party  in  the  end  comes  to  have  the  dis- 
position of  some  money  and  some  patronage.  The  result 
of  this  interplay  of  interests,  and  exchange  of  power,  is 
what  has  come  to  be  known  as  "the  system."  Judge 
Lindsey  and  Mr.  O'Higgins  have  given  it  the  name  of 
"The  Beast."  The  novice  who  contemplates  the  linea- 
ments of  this  beast,  as  it  is  described  by  those  who  know, 
finds  himself  in  the  state  of  mind  of  the  countryman, 
who,  having  seen  a  giraffe  for  the  first  time,  shrugged 
his  shoulders  in  disgust  and  walked  away,  remarking, 
"There  ain't  no  such  animal."  Unfortunately,  however, 
the  evidence  as  to  the  existence  and  character  of  The 
Beast  is  altogether  too  strong  to  be  set  aside  so  lightly. 

There  are  two  types  of  business  which,  being  especially 
subject  to  government  control,  or  "interference,"  are 
particularly  liable  to  be  drawn  into  the  system.  These 


DOUBTFUL  CASES.   ECONOMIC  IMMORALITY    147 

are  the  highest  and  the  lowest.  "Big  business"  is 
always  a  favorite  mark  for  legitimate  and  illegitimate 
political  attack,  while  the  trades  of  the  underworld, 
though  for  somewhat  different  reasons,  are  equally  sub- 
ject to  government  attention.  This  fact  explains  the 
extraordinary  combinations  of  interests  which  are  fre- 
quently found  arrayed  in  political  contests.  The  direc- 
tors of  a  vast  street  railway  system  and  the  keeper  of  a 
gambling  hell  are  alike  concerned  in  putting  into  official 
positions  men  who  can  be  "influenced,"  who  favor  a 
general  policy  of  non-interference,  who  are  impressed 
with  the  sacred  character  of  business.  The  ordinary, 
small  business  man  in  a  legitimate  industry,  who  has 
little  to  gain  or  lose  from  governmental  activity,  and 
who  has  little  to  offer  to  governmental  agents  —  the 
man  of  the  type  of  Professor  Sumner'.s  "forgotten  man" 
—  is  little  subject  to  temptation,  and  so  is  seldom  found 
in  the  toils  of  the  system. 

Once  under  way,  the  system  develops  tremendous 
force  and  impetus,  and  it  is  almost  impossible  for  any 
one,  however  upright  his  original  motives,  who  engages 
in  any  of  the  activities  bound  up  in  the  system,  to  keep 
himself  wholly  untainted  by  its  influence.  The  story 
told  by  Judge  Lindsey  of  the  experiences  of  himself  and 
his  partner,  is  strikingly  significant.69  Appeal  is  made 
by  the  agents  of  the  system  to  every  possible  motive, 
good  and  bad,  by  which  the  initiate  may  be  made  to 
conform  himself  to  the  habits  of  The  Beast.  Loyalty, 
friendship,  gratitude,  and  ambition  are  requisitioned,  as 
well  as  selfishness,  cupidity,  and  lust  of  power.  After 
the  first  step  is  taken,  after  the  first  compromise  is 
made,  it  is  almost  impossible  for  the  victim  to  escape 
from  the  meshes.  And  if  he  steadfastly  remains  aloof, 


148  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

every  possible  device  of  cunning,  craft,  and  duplicity  is 
employed  to  discredit  him  in  the  eyes  of  the  public. 

The  whole  thing  rests  ultimately,  of  course,  upon  the 
natural  selfishness  of  human  nature,  as  does  every 
other  form  of  immorality  in  the  final  analysis.  But 
the  proportions  attained  are  made  possible  only  by  the 
character  of  the  present  economic  and  political  organi- 
zation of  modern  societies.  The  study  of  graft  can  be 
profitably  prosecuted  only  on  the  basis  of  a  full  under- 
standing of  the  prevailing  social  system. 

Since  graft  has  been  branded  as  abnormal,  it  follows 
that  there  must  be  some  social  injury  connected  with  it. 
Who,  then,  are  the  sufferers  from  graft?  Briefly,  "the 
dear  people."  Why  do  the  people  not  rebel?  They 
are  the  ultimate  source  of  political  power  in  modern 
societies.  Why  do  they  not  take  matters  into  their 
own  hands,  and  put  an  end  to  graft?  Primarily,  be- 
cause they  are  less  than  half  conscious  that  they  are 
suffering,  and  almost  wholly  ignorant  as  to  why  and 
how  they  are  made  to  suffer.  Consistently  with  the 
general  nature  of  modern  economic  sin  it  is  character- 
istic of  graft  that  most  of  its  social  injury  is  administered 
in  small  doses,  and  widely  disseminated  over  a  large 
number  of  people.  The  tribute  which  the  system  exacts 
takes  the  form  of  unnecessarily  high  gas  and  water 
rates,  and  trolley  fares,  of  short  weights  and  adulterated 
foods,  of  prices  augmented  by  "protective"  tariffs,  and 
of  a  thousand  and  one  other  minor  additions  to  the  daily 
expenditures  of  the  common  man.  He,  on  his  part, 
scarcely  recognizes  the  imposition,  or,  if  he  does,  feels 
that  the  specific  amounts  are  so  small  as  hardly  to  make 
it  worth  while  to  do  anything  about  it.  The  total 
social  loss,  however,  represented  by  the  aggregate  gains 


DOUBTFUL  CASES.    ECONOMIC  IMMORALITY    149 

of  grafters,  is  enormous.  Recently,  there  are  signs  that 
the  people  are  waking  up.  Not  only  do  successive 
waves  of  reform  sweep  over  our  great  cities,  but  there 
are  indications  of  serious  efforts  to  put  permanent 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  development  of  the  system. 
The  present  baiting  of  the  railroads,  arbitrary  and  un- 
fair as  it  often  is,  is  merely  the  natural  reaction  from 
the  days  when  the  motto  of  railroad  magnates  was, 
"the  public  be  damned."  Education,  a  sensitized  social 
conscience,  a  heightened  feeling  of  public  responsibility, 
and  a  keener  resentment  for  small  injustices  are  the 
weapons  by  which  graft  may  be  reduced  to  its  minimum 
proportions,  as  long  as  the  present  economic  organiza- 
tion persists. 

Unsocial  utilization  of  capital.  There  is  another  great 
branch  of  social  evils  which  lies  so  squarely  on  the  border 
line  between  sin  and  maladjustment  that  it  is  difficult 
if  not  impossible  to  place  it  in  the  general  classification. 
This  includes  all  those  forms  of  social  injury  which  result 
from  the  careless  or  indifferent  use  of  capital.  As  in- 
stances, may  be  cited  the  high  death  rate  in  insanitary 
tenements,  industrial  accidents  and  diseases  resulting 
from  remediable  factory  conditions,  and  the  exhaustion 
of  laborers  incident  upon  a  too  long  working  day. 
Society  has  not  yet  definitely  decided  to  what  extent 
the  responsibility  for  these  evils  should  be  placed  upon 
those  who  own  the  capital  in  connection  with  which 
they  arise.  It  might  seem  at  first  thought  that  every 
owner  of  capital  ought  to  be  held  strictly  and  solely 
accountable  for  the  evils  which  result  from  his  use  of 
his  capital.  There  are  extremists  who  take  this  view. 
Some  one  has  said  that  "you  can  kill  a  man  just  as 
surely  with  a  tenement  as  with  an  ax,"  and  Robert 


150  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

Hunter  says,  "These  men  are  murderers."  70  But  a 
closer  analysis  shows  that  this  attitude  is  unwarranted. 
Many  of  the  evils  in  question  appear  to  be  inseparable 
from  the  competitive  use  of  privately-owned  capital. 
Accordingly,  a  society  which  sanctions  the  private  owner- 
ship of  productive  capital,  and  allows  free  competition, 
must  be  prepared  to  accept  the  social  responsibility  for 
the  evils  which  accrue  from  that  system.  For  example, 
a  certain  manufacturer  in  a  competitive  industry  may 
feel  that  an  eight  hour  day  is  long  enough,  and  may 
attempt  to  establish  it  in  his  own  plant.  But  unless 
the  industry  is  of  such  a  sort  that  the  shortening  of  the 
day  is  an  actual  economic  advantage,  he  will  soon  find 
that  his  cost  of  production  has  increased  so  much  that 
he  can  no  longer  meet  the  competition  of  his  rivals, 
and  must  either  go  back  to  the  long  day,  or  go  out  of 
business.  A  study  of  the  facts  of  industry  reveals  count- 
less illustrations  of  the  truth  that  under  a  competitive 
organization  of  the  economic  life,  those  individuals  who 
set  the  standards  are  those  who  have  the  least  sense  of 
social  responsibility.  The  conditions  of  life  in  any 
given  industry  tend  in  the  long  run  to  be  drawn  down 
to  the  level  established  by  the  least  conscientious  of  the 
efficient  producers  in  that  industry.  As  long  as  anti- 
social conditions  are  economically  profitable  to  the  in- 
dividual in  control,  they  will  be  maintained  by  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  self-centered  individuals  to  nullify  the 
desires  of  other  altruistic  individuals  who  would  be 
glad  to  sacrifice  a  part  of  their  natural  power  in  the 
interest  of  the  general  social  welfare. 

For  this  reason,  many  thinkers  are  inclined  to  put 
the  entire  responsibility  for  evils  of  this  sort  upon 
society,  and  call  them  all  maladjustments.  But  this 


DOUBTFUL  CASES.    ECONOMIC  IMMORALITY    151 

extreme  view  will  bear  analysis  no  better  than  the  other. 
It  is  evident  that  the  ultimate  responsibility  for  these 
evils  does,  in  many  cases,  rest  with  some  individuals  — 
not  with  all,  and  often  not  with  a  majority.  If  no 
capitalist  were  willing  to  tolerate  in  his  plant  conditions 
which  menaced  the  health  of  his  operatives,  the  entire 
competition  would  take  place  on  a  higher  plane.  We 
have  here,  then,  one  of  the  typical  situations  which 
demand  and  justify  social  control  —  a  situation  where 
a  few  antisocially  minded  individuals  can  compel  an 
entire  group,  in  the  absence  of  regulation,  to  conform 
to  their  standards.  Society  has  gradually  learned,  and 
is  learning,  this  lesson.  The  old  doctrine  of  laissezfaire, 
in  its  extreme  applications,  has  been  relegated  to  the 
rubbish  heap,  and  in  its  place  we  have  the  extensive 
and  complicated  system  of  factory  laws,  pure  food  laws, 
tenement  house  laws,  etc.,  by  which  society,  while  seem- 
ing to  restrain  whole  groups  of  producers,  really  re- 
strains only  the  antisocially  minded  elements  (often  a 
small  minority),  and  leaves  the  socially  minded  indi- 
viduals free  to  do  what  they  would  gladly  do,  anyway, 
but  could  not  do  under  unregulated  competition. 

It  is  evidently  impossible  to  lay  down  any  inflexible 
generalization  as  to  the  responsibility  for  the  class  of 
evils  in  question,  and  accordingly  it  is  impossible  to 
classify  them  definitely  as  either  sins  or  maladjustments. 
Only  in  specific  cases,  and  often  then  only  by  the  in- 
dividual immediately  concerned,  can  it  be  determined 
whether  these  types  of  abnormality  involve  any  breach 
of  the  moral  code.  The  trend  of  social  evolution  is  in 
the  direction  of  asserting  social  responsibility  by  fixing 
individual  responsibility.  In  other  words,  such  use  of 
capital  as  results  in  social  injury  is  progressively  being 


152  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

brought  into  the  category  of  crime.  Such  social  evils 
as  sweatshops,  dark  bedrooms  in  tenements,  improperly 
ventilated  mines,  etc.,  start  as  maladjustments,  and 
ultimately  become  crimes.  Sometimes  the  transition 
from  the  stage  of  maladjustment  to  the  criminal  stage 
takes  place  directly.  Sometimes  there  intervenes  a 
period  when  the  maintenance  of  such  conditions  is  con- 
demned by  the  moral  code,  though  not  yet  proscribed 
by  the  legal  code.  Frequent  instances  of  these  border 
line  cases  will  present  themselves  in  the  course  of  this 
study. 

Economic  crime.  Under  the  head  of  economic  crime 
fall  all  acts  committed  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth  which 
are  definitely  forbidden  by  the  legal  code  of  the  state. 
The  oldest  and  most  fundamental  is  theft  —  the  taking 
of  wealth  to  which  one  has  no  right.  In  fact,  almost 
all  economic  crimes  might  be  interpreted  as  theft  in 
some  sense.  But  the  typical  modern  crimes  in  this 
field  are  not  the  simple,  direct  forms  of  theft,  such  as 
robbery,  burglary,  piracy,  etc.,  but  the  more  complicated, 
indirect,  and  impersonal  methods  of  depriving  others  of 
their  wealth,  such  as  have  already  been  referred  to  in 
the  discussion  of  economic  sin  in  general.  As  soon  as 
societies  become  progressive  enough  to  prohibit  these 
acts  by  law,  they  become  crimes,  and  then  the  financier 
who  makes  a  combination  in  restraint  of  trade  is  just 
as  truly  a  criminal  as  the  train  robber.  This  fact  is 
often  overlooked  by  criminologists,  who  talk  about  a 
criminal  type  as  if  it  were  a  definite  and  concrete  thing. 
A  moment's  consideration  reveals  the  fact  that  the 
determination  of  who  is  a  criminal  depends  upon  the 
attitude  of  society,  no  less  than  upon  the  constitution 
of  the  individual.  Whether  a  man  is  a  criminal  or  not 


DOUBTFUL  CASES.   ECONOMIC  IMMORALITY    153 

depends  not  only  upon  what  he  does,  but  upon  where 
he  does  it.  At  one  time,  one  of  the  United  States  had 
158  crimes,  and  another  only  io8.71  A  man  might  do 
fifty  different  things  in  one  state  without  fear  of  the 
law,  which  would  make  him  a  criminal  in  the  other.  It 
follows  that  the  amount  of  crime  in  any  state  is  no  in- 
fallible indication  of  the  badness  of  its  population.  It 
may  be  an  indication  of  the  progressiveness  of  its  social 
policy,  and  the  sensitiveness  of  its  public  conscience. 
Accordingly,  in  the  economic  field,  a  certain  way  of 
making  a  living  which  will  mark  a  man  as  a  clever 
business  man  in  one  society,  will  brand  him  as  a  sinner 
in  another  society,  and  as  a  criminal  in  a  third. 

To  determine  the  amount  of  economic  crime  in  any 
society  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible.  The  measurement 
of  criminality  of  any  sort  is  exceedingly  difficult,  for  the 
primary  reason  that  account  must  be  taken  not  only 
of  the  number  of  crimes  committed,  but  of  their  gravity 
—  that  is,  the  amount  of  criminality  involved  in  each 
crime.  If  all  that  were  necessary  were  to  enumerate 
the  number  of  criminal  acts  within  a  given  time,  the 
task  would  be  comparatively  simple.  But  it  would  evi- 
dently be  misleading  to  put  spitting  on  the  sidewalk  on 
a  par  with  murder  in  estimating  the  degree  of  criminality 
in  a  community.  Official  statistics  take  one  or  two  brief 
steps  in  this  direction  by  differentiating  between  major 
and  minor  offenses,  misdemeanors,  etc.  Another  method 
of  getting  a  vague  idea  is  by  the  severity  of  the  punish- 
ments imposed.  But,  as  has  already  been  shown  in  the 
discussion  of  expiation  as  a  basis  of  punishment  (page 
38),  men  have  never  found  it  possible  to  apportion 
punishment  exactly  in  accordance  with  the  degree  of 
criminality. 


154  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

The  effort  to  estimate  the  amount  of  economic  crime 
is  further  complicated  by  the  fact  that  official  statistics 
do  not  classify  crime  on  the  basis  of  the  major  interest 
involved.  The  standard  classification  rests  upon  the 
object  of  the  act  instead  of  upon  the  motive  of  the  agent, 
and  divides  crimes  into  those  against  property,  against 
the  person,  against  chastity,  and  against  public  policy. 
Obviously  it  would  be  quite  impossible  to  pick  out  from 
such  a  classification  all  crimes  committed  in  the  pursuit 
of  wealth.  Much  nearer  to  the  conception  of  economic 
crime  is  the  classification  adopted  by  the  Immigration 
Commission.  Its  category  of  "gainful  offenses"  rests 
upon  virtually  the  same  basis  as  the  present  defi- 
nition of  economic  crime.  According  to  the  figures  of 
the  Commission,  about  8  per  cent  of  the  cases  dealt  with 
by  the  City  Magistrates'  Courts  of  New  York  City  in 
the  years  1901  to  1908  were  gainful  offenses,  the  ma- 
jority of  the  cases  being  offenses  against  public  policy. 
In  the  New  York  Court  of  General  Sessions,  from 
October,  1908  to  June  30,  1909,  74  per  cent  of  the  cases 
were  gainful  offenses.  In  the  New  York  County  and 
Supreme  Courts,  in  1907  and  1908,  71.7  per  cent  of  the 
cases  were  gainful  offenses.  Among  the  police  arrests 
in  Chicago-,  1905  to  1908,  about  three  fourths  of  the 
offenses  were  against  public  policy,  and  13.1  per  cent 
gainful,  while  of  the  commitments  to  Massachusetts 
penal  institutions,  Oct.  i,  1908  to  Sept.  30,  1909,  12.3 
per  cent  were  for  gainful  offenses. 

It  is  thus  apparent  that  while  the  proportion  of  eco- 
nomic crimes  is  relatively  small,  as  compared  with  all 
crimes,  yet  in  the  case  of  the  more  serious  crimes,  dealt 
with  by  the  higher  courts,  economic  crimes  constitute  a 
large  majority.  Figures  showing  the  relative  severity  of 


DOUBTFUL  CASES.    ECONOMIC  IMMORALITY    155 

punishment  for  different  sorts  of  crime  also  reveal  the 
fact  that  economic  crimes  are  regarded  as  very  serious 
by  modern  societies. 

Economic  vice.  There  are  two  main  forms  of  eco- 
nomic vice  which  demand  consideration,  both  very 
ancient.  One  is  now  so  thoroughly  condemned  by 
public  opinion  as  to  have  little  practical  importance  in 
modern  life ;  the  other  is  still  extensively  practiced. 
The  first  of  these  vices  is  gluttony,  the  second  gambling. 
Gluttony  is  the  gratification  of  the  sense  of  taste  merely 
for  the  pleasure  connected  therewith,  instead  of  for  the 
legitimate  purpose  for  which  it  exists  —  nutrition.  In 
New  Testament  days  apparently  the  glutton  was  about 
as  common  as  the  winebibber,  and  occupied  about  the 
same  place  in  the  public  estimation.  The  feasts  of  the 
Romans  were  also  marked  by  extremes  of  gluttony. 
But  the  practices  connected  with  gluttony  are  so 
thoroughly  disgusting  and  revolting  that,  while  it  is 
still  said  that  some  people  live  to  eat  instead  of  eating 
to  live,  the  vice  itself  has  been  practically  banished  from 
civilized  societies. 

Gambling,  on  the  other  hand,  being  one  of  the  oldest 
of  vices,  is  also  one  of  the  most  universal,  and  is  still 
widely  prevalent  in  the  most  civilized  societies.  There 
is  no  need  to  examine  its  different  forms  in  this  connec- 
tion, but  merely  to  consider  briefly  the  distinctive  char- 
acteristics which  place  it  in  the  category  of  vice. 
Gambling  is  a  vice  for  three  chief  reasons.  First,  while 
ostensibly  a  method  of  securing  wealth,  it  is  wholly  non- 
productive from  the  social  point  of  view.  Mankind  has 
never  been  one  whit  the  richer  for  all  the  gambling  it 
has  indulged  in.  Second,  gambling  represents  a.  net 
loss  in  satisfaction  to  society.  According  to  the  law  of 


156  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

marginal  utility,  the  gain  of  the  man  who  wins  in  a 
gamble,  other  things  being  equal,  is  always  less  than 
the  loss  of  the  man  who  loses.72  This  is  the  great  eco- 
nomic justification  for  the  condemnation  of  gambling. 
Third,  gambling  tends  to  destroy  the  individuals  who 
practice  it,  particularly  with  respect  to  those  qualities 
which  are  essential  for  the  legitimate  pursuit  of  wealth. 
There  is  scarcely  anything  which  will  so  surely  under- 
mine habits  of  industry,  frugality,  forethought,  honesty, 
justice,  and  all  the  other  characteristics  which  enable 
men  to  prosper  in  normal  ways,  than  addiction  to 
gambling.  The  confirmed  gambler  becomes  utterly 
unfitted  for  any  legitimate  form  of  business  activity. 

For  these  reasons,  gambling  demands  and  receives 
social  attention  in  all  progressive  societies,  and  the  con- 
trol of  gambling  becomes  one  of  the  great  practical 
problems  of  modern  communities.  The  tendency,  in 
the  United  States  at  least,  is  to  seek  to  accomplish  this 
end  by  means  of  legislation.  But  the  very  nature  of 
vice  makes  this  method  inadequate  to  secure  the  desired 
result.  To  forbid  gambling  by  law  is  to  make  it  a  crime. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  there  are  certain  forms  of  gambling 
that  should  be  made  crimes,  and  can  be  best  controlled 
in  this  way.  It  is  hard  to  see,  for  instance,  how  the 
great  interstate  lottery  system  could  ever  have  been  so 
effectively  grappled  with  by  any  other  than  legal  means. 
Also,  some  of  the  glaring  temptations  to  gambling,  and 
some  of  its  commercial  manifestations,  may  be  reduced 
or  eliminated  by  law.  State  action,  then,  is  highly 
desirable  with  reference  to  gambling,  and  is  decidedly 
effective  within  limits.  But  the  vice  itself  can  never 
be  eradicated  by  legal  means.  The  social  agencies 
which  can  successfully  cope  with  gambling,  and  reduce 


DOUBTFUL  CASES.   ECONOMIC  IMMORALITY     157 

it  as  near  to  a  minimum  as  possible,  are  those  enumerated 
in  an  earlier  chapter  as  fitted  to  deal  with  vice  in  general 
—  the  school,  the  church,  and  the  home.  The  individual 
integrity  of  its  citizens  is  the  only  sure  safeguard  which 
a  society  can  have  against  gambling.* 

In  a  certain  sense,  prostitution  might  be  considered 
under  the  head  of  economic  vice,  since  it  is  a  practice 
entered  upon  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth  which  tends 
toward  the  destruction  of  the  individual,  particularly 
with  respect  to  those  qualities  relied  upon  to  secure 
gain  —  youth,  charm,  health,  beauty,  etc.  But  the 
number  of  women  and  girls  who  enter  a  life  of  prostitu- 
tion primarily  for  the  conscious  purpose  of  making  a 
living  is  relatively  small,  and  for  a  variety  of  reasons 
the  whole  question  of  prostitution  is  most  fittingly  in- 
cluded in  the  second  great  department  of  social  life. 

In  a  similar  way,  some  aspects  of  the  abuse  of  alcohol 
take  the  form  of  an  economic  vice.  Especially  is  this 
true  of  the  practice  known  as  industrial  drinking,  by 
which  workers  indulge  in  alcoholic  drinks  in  the  belief 
that  they  are  thereby  made  more  efficient  in  their  work. 
This  form  of  vice  is  said  to  be  very  common  in  England, 
less  so  in  the  United  States.  The  prevalence  of  the 
practice  rests  upon  a  misconception  as  to  the  effects  of 
alcohol  on  the  human  body.  The  first  effect  of  a  moder- 
ate dose  of  alcohol  is  to  induce  a  sense  of  vigor,  well- 
being,  and  increased  muscular  strength.  The  latter 
impression,  however,  is  wholly  illusory,  being  due  to  the 
stimulation  of  the  nervous  system,  not  the  strengthening 

*  The  distinction  should  be  dearly  observed  between  gambling  and 
speculation.  The  latter,  in  many  of  its  forms,  is  not  only  legitimate,  but 
socially  advantageous.  It  is  difficult  to  draw  the  line  between  the  two 
in  verbal  definitions.  This  fact  is  one  of  the  obstacles  which  societies 
meet  in  trying  to  deal  with  gambling  by  legal  means. 


158  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

of  the  muscular  system.  Equally  mistaken  is  the  idea, 
so  generally  held,  that  better  skilled  work  can  be 
done  under  the  influence  of  alcohol.  Repeated  experi- 
ments have  proved  that,  although  workers  are  con- 
vinced in  their  own  minds  that  they  do  better  work 
than  their  average  while  under  a  mild  stimulation  by 
alcohol,  the  results  show  that  work  done  under  these 
conditions  is  inferior.  It  can  readily  be  understood, 
however,  that  as  long  as  these  misconceptions  prevail, 
there  is  a  great  temptation  for  workers  to  resort  to 
alcoholic  stimulation  as  a  means  of  increasing  their 
efficiency.  The  logical  result  of  the  practice  is  a  progres- 
sively diminished  efficiency,  a  constant  pressure  to  in- 
crease the  amount  of  stimulation,  and  eventually  chronic 
alcoholism.  It  is  said  that  a  continuous  use  of  small 
amounts  of  alcohol,  even  though  intoxication  never  re- 
sults, is  more  likely  to  induce  chronic  alcoholism  than  a 
periodic  indulgence  in  large  amounts  of  alcohol,  with 
consequent  complete  inebriation.73  Education  is  clearly 
the  first  step  necessary  for  the  elimination  of  industrial 
drinking.  For  the  most  part,  however,  the  use  of  alcohol 
can  be  most  logically  considered  under  the  head  of  self- 
gratification. 


CHAPTER   IX 

ECONOMIC   INCOMPETENCE.      DESTITUTION 

Numerous  forms  of  economic  incompetence.  Whether 
the  social  evils  which  fall  under  the  head  of  economic 
incompetency  are  to  be  classed  as  incapacity  or  maladjust- 
ment depends,  according  to  definition,  upon  whether 
the  weakness  or  insufficiency  lies  in  the  make-up  of  the 
individual,  or  in  the  constitution  of  society  and  social 
relations.  The  number  of  these  evils  is  legion,  and  it 
is  one  of  the  great  unsettled  problems  of  applied  sociology 
just  how  to  interpret  them  and  how  to  account  for  them. 
Anything  for  which  an  individual  is  not  personally 
responsible  by  choice,  which  prevents  him  from  earning 
a  normal  living  in  a  normal  way,  furnishes  an  instance 
of  economic  incompetence.  As  instances  of  economic 
incapacity  may  be  cited  blindness,  deformity,  old  age, 
feeble-mindedness,  or  any  other  physical  or  psychical 
handicap  which  interferes  with  the  pursuit  of  wealth. 
As  illustrations  of  economic  maladjustment  may  be 
mentioned  unemployment  due  to  crises  or  the  seasonal 
nature  of  industry,  reduced  wages  due  to  fluctuations  in 
the  market,  the  neutralization  of  technical  skill  by  the 
introduction  of  new  machinery,  etc.  Some  forms  of 
incompetence  are  personal  in  their  application,  but  social 
in  their  origin,  such  as  injuries  from  industrial  accidents, 
and  sickness  caused  by  impure  city  water. 

Destitution.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  mere  enu- 
meration and  classification  of  the  different  forms  of 

159 


160  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

economic  incompetence  would  be  an  almost  endless 
and  very  profitless  task.  The  treatment  of  these  types 
of  abnormality  will  be  simplified  by  observing  that  they 
all  have  one  grand  result  —  destitution.  The  most 
practical  method  of  attack  in  this  field  accordingly  is  to 
take  up  the  question  from  the  point  of  view  of  destitu- 
tion, to  examine  its  extent  and  its  causes,  and  to  consider 
the  possible  means  for  its  elimination. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  destitution  is  a  relative 
matter,  conditioned  by  the  normal  standard  of  living  in  a 
given  society.  In  the  common  discussions  of  the  subject, 
the  line  is  not  clearly  drawn  between  destitution  and 
poverty,  nor  is  it  always  possible  to  make  a  sharp  distinc- 
tion. In  endeavoring  to  estimate  the  amount  of  desti- 
tution in  a  modern  country,  as  the  United  States  for 
instance,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  normal  stand- 
ard of  living  of  the  working  classes  is,  as  has  been  demon- 
strated above,  very  low  in  comparison  with  the  total 
wealth  of  the  society  as  a  whole.  There  will  therefore 
be  much  less  of  destitution  than  of  what  might  justly  be 
considered  serious  poverty. 

Amount  of  destitution.  There  is  no  way  of  accurately 
ascertaining  the  amount  of  destitution  in  the  United 
States.  When  Robert  Hunter  stated74  that  he  had  no 
doubt  that  there  were  10,000,000  persons  in  poverty  in 
this  country,  and  that  the  number  might  be  fifteen  or 
twenty  millions,  he  probably  had  in  mind  a  situation 
somewhat  different  from  destitution  in  the  exact  sense. 
All  that  can  be  said  is  that  there  is  certainly  a  very  large 
amount  of  destitution,  an  amount  wholly  out  of  propor- 
tion to  the  total  wealth  or  total  income  of  the  United 
States.  Perhaps  as  good  an  idea  as  any  may  be  gained 
by  considering,  first,  what  sort  of  standard  of  living  is 


ECONOMIC  INCOMPETENCE.    DESTITUTION    161 

procurable  with  a  family  income  of  $600  a  year,  and  then 
the  number  of  families  who  must  exist  upon  less  than  $600 
a  year. 

Pauperism.  It  is  not  until  the  extreme  stage  of  desti- 
tution, pauperism,  is  reached  that  there  is  a  definite 
criterion  for  judgment,  and  consequently  the  possibility 
of  accurate  and  complete  statistics.  By  pauperism  is 
meant  that  situation  where  a  family  or  individual  receives 
the  whole  or  a  part  of  its  support  from  sources  other  than 
those  upon  which  it  naturally  has  a  legal  or  social  claim.* 
The  term  dependence  is  sometimes  used  to  cover  this 
situation,  but  not  very  accurately.  For  every  one  is 
dependent  during  a  considerable  period  of  his  life  — 
infancy  and  childhood  —  and  many  for  a  second  period, 
old  age.  But  as  long  as  those  who  provide  subsistence 
during  these  periods  are  the  members  of  one's  immediate 
family,  or  others  with  some  direct  social  responsibility, 
there  is  no  pauperism.  So  an  adult,  under  our  present 
social  system,  may  be  supported  by  his  parents  indefinitely 
without  incurring  the  charge  of  pauperism.  In  general, 
if  the  support  comes  from  near  relatives,  it  is  not  con- 
sidered pauperism.  To  just  what  degree  of  relationship 
the  social  responsibility  for  support  extends  is  a  matter 
of  the  general  social  organization,  and  seldom  causes  any 
practical  confusion. 

Although  pauperism  is  a  definite  state,  and  statistics 
are  therefore  possible,  complete  statistics  do  not  exist 
in  the  United  States.  On  January  i,  1910,  there  were 

*  The  definition  of  pauperism  which  limits  it  to  a  "state  of  legal  de- 
pendence" is  not  strictly  logical,  as  it  is  based  not  upon  the  condition 
of  the  family  or  individual,  but  upon  the  method  of  relieving  that  con- 
dition. The  earmark  of  pauperism  is  the  receipt  of  support  from  without 
the  family.  Whether  this  support  comes  from  official  or  unofficial 
sources  is  not  essential. 

M 


162  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

enumerated  in  the  almshouses  of  the  United  States 
84,198  paupers.  But  the  almshouse  population  repre- 
sents only  a  small  fraction  of  the  total  amount  of  pauper- 
ism. Not  only  are  there  large  numbers  of  publicly 
supported  paupers  who  are  maintained  outside  of  insti- 
tutions, but  there  is  also  the  enormous  class  of  privately 
supported  paupers,  concerning  whom  it  is  still  more 
difficult  to  get  accurate  facts.  If  the  current  estimate 
is  correct  that  about  5  per  cent  of  the  total  population  of 
the  country  are  the  recipients  of  some  form  of  charitable 
relief  in  a  single  year,  it  means  that  nearly  five  million 
people  experience  pauperism  annually.75 

Not  all  of  this  number,  of  course,  remain  paupers. 
Pauperism  may  be  temporary  or  permanent,  acute  or 
chronic.  But  even  temporary  pauperism,  though  it 
lasts  only  a  few  days  or  weeks,  is  a  much  more  serious 
matter  than  might  appear  at  first  sight.  The  distinction 
between  destitution  and  pauperism  is  by  no  means  merely 
academic.  The  line  of  demarcation  is  sharply  drawn, 
not  only  in  the  definition,  but  in  the  minds  of  the  poorer 
classes  themselves.  Pauperism  is  the  great  haunting  fear 
of  the  destitute,  and  they  fight  against  it  with  every  ounce 
of  energy  and  perseverance,  aided  by  that  wonderful 
store  of  fellowship  and  helpfulness  which  is  to  be  observed 
in  poor  neighborhoods.  But  once  the  line  is  crossed,  a 
family  loses  something  which  it  is  very  difficult  for  them 
ever  to  regain.  The  longer  the  period  of  pauperism 
lasts,  the  more  fixed  do  the  habits  of  dependence  become, 
and  the  more  difficult  is  it  to  restore  the  old  feeling  of 
self-respect.  Herein  lies  one  of  the  greatest  curses  of  our 
frequently  recurring  economic  crises.  The  evil  which 
they  do  to  the  poorer  classes  is  not  to  be  measured  by  the 
amount  of  actual  suffering  alone,  but  also  by  the  great 


ECONOMIC  INCOMPETENCE.    DESTITUTION    163 

loss  in  independence  on  the  part  of  those  families  who 
are  forced  over  the  line,  even  though  it  be  only  for  a 
season. 

Chronic  pauperism  is  one  of  the  most  hopeless  and  in- 
tractable of  all  social  diseases.  When  it  reaches  its  final 
stage  of  vagrancy  it  seems  to  be  practically  impossible  of 
cure. 

Scarcely  any  department  of  social  inquiry  and  activity 
has  received  more  attention  than  the  causes  and  treat- 
ment of  destitution  and  pauperism.  Numberless  classi- 
fications and  analyses  of  the  causes  have  been  made,  and  a 
great  variety  of  remedies  suggested.  Some  are  scientific 
to  a  certain  degree,  but  many  are  random  and  incoherent. 

The  causes  of  destitution.  As  regards  causes,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  causes  of  destitution  and  pauperism  are 
virtually  the  same,  and  no  effort  need  be  made  to  dis- 
tinguish them.  The  only  new  element  in  pauperism  is 
the  consent  to  receive  support  from  outside  sources. 
This  may  be  due  to  the  extremity  of  destitution  or  to  a 
certain  weakness  of  character.  But  at  any  rate,  the 
chains  of  circumstance  which  lead  up  to  the  two  forms  of 
abnormality  are  the  same. 

A  typical  classification  of  the  causes  of  pauperism  is 
the  following,  adopted  by  the  Immigration  Commission : 
The  general  percentages  of  all  cases  recorded  by  the  Com- 
mission, due  to  each  cause,  are  appended. 

APPARENT  CAUSE  OF  NEED  PEK  CENT  OF  TOTAL" 

1.  Death  or  disability  of  breadwinner : 

Accident  to  breadwinner 3.2 

Death  of  breadwinner 5.7 

Illness  of  breadwinner 20.8 

2.  Death  or  disability  of  another  member  of  the  family : 

Accident  to  another  member  of  the  family  ....        .7 

Death  of  another  member  of  the  family i.i 

Illness  of  another  member  of  the  family 17.6 


164  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

APPARENT  CAUSE  OF  NEED  PER  CENT  or  TOTAL 

3.  Lack  of  employment  or  insufficient  earnings : 

Insufficient  earnings 19.9 

Lack  of  employment 43.2 

4.  Neglect  or  bad  habits  of  breadwinner  : 

Desertion  by  husband 7.5 

Incarceration  of  breadwinner 1.9 

Intemperance  of  breadwinner 7.7 

Neglect  by  breadwinner 4.6 

5.  Old  age 6.2 

6.  Other: 

Loss  by  fire 3 

Other 9.9 

A  glance  at  this  table  suggests  several  criticisms. 
In  the  first  place,  "insufficient  earnings"  might  be  inter- 
preted broadly  enough  to  cover  every  case  of  destitution 
except  those  due  to  willful  waste  or  utter  inefficiency  in 
expenditure.  It  is  essential  to  know  more  explicitly 
why  earnings  were  insufficient.  Several  of  the  other 
conditions  enumerated,  as  "intemperance,"  "illness," 
"old  age,"  etc.,  might  well  be  the  cause  of  insufficient 
earnings.  The  same  might  be  said  of  "lack  of  employ- 
ment." Furthermore,  it  is  remarkable  that  no  mention 
is  made  of  sexual  immorality,  which  is  considered  by  some 
as  one  of  the  most  prolific  causes  of  destitution.77 

The  chief  criticism,  however,  of  classifications  of  the 
above  type  is  the  general  one  that  the  causes  enumerated 
are  merely  proximate,  and  give  no  indication  of  the  actual 
conditions  which  have  brought  the  family  into  destitu- 
tion. The  Commission  recognizes  this  fact  by  designat- 
ing the  conditions  enumerated  as  the  "apparent  causes 
of  need."  This  is  often  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  go  in  a 
general  investigation,  but  it  is  by  no  means  far  enough 
for  scientific  purposes. 

A  classification  of  the  causes  of  destitution  which  cor- 
responds to  the  general  scheme  adopted  in  this  study 


ECONOMIC  INCOMPETENCE.    DESTITUTION     165 

would  distinguish  first  of  all  between  the  personal  causes 
(incapacity)  and  the  social  causes  (maladjustment). 
But  as  soon  as  personal  causes  are  mentioned,  it  at  once 
becomes  clear  that  many  personal  causes  do  not  come 
under  the  head  of  incompetence  at  all,  but  of  immorality. 
Such  are  intemperance,  sexual  vice,  crime,  etc.  Plainly, 
a  portion  of  destitution  is  a  matter  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility. 

Incapacity,  in  turn,  may  be  divided  into  physical  — 
illness,  accident,  deformity,  blindness,  etc.,  —  and  psy- 
chical —  idiocy,  insanity,  feeble-mindedness,  ignorance, 
etc.  Youth  and  old  age  are  both  physical  and  psychical. 
Incapacity,  both  physical  and  psychical,  may  be  curable 
or  incurable.  Under  maladjustment  may  be  enumerated 
faulty  industrial  connections  (i.e.  a  skilled  cabinetworker 
out  of  employment  in  New  York  while  there  may  be 
plenty  of  work  in  Grand  Rapids,  about  which  he 
knows  nothing,  and  of  which  he  could  not  avail  him- 
self if  he  did),  unemployment  due  to  crises  or  the 
seasonal  nature  of  industry,  closure  of  plants  due  to 
war,  etc. 

But  this  classification,  too,  is  inadequate,  in  that  many 
of  the  causes  enumerated,  particularly  under  the  head  of 
personal,  are  also  only  proximate.  We  need  to  know 
what  are  the  causes  of  illness,  insanity,  etc.  Also  we 
find  here  many  of  the  vicious  circles  so  familiar  to 
students  of  sociology.  Illness  may  be  due  to  intem- 
perance, or  intemperance  to  illness.  Undernourishment 
may  be  the  cause  of  unemployment,  and  unemployment 
the  cause  of  undernourishment.  Ignorance  may  be 
both  a  cause  and  a  result  of  small  wages.  Most  of  the 
personal  characteristics  mentioned  as  causes  of  desti- 
tution are  frequently  results  of  destitution.  In  fact,  it  is 


i66  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

seldom  that  any  case  of  destitution  is  due  to  a  single 
simple  cause,  which  may  be  isolated. 

Particularly  is  it  true,  as  intimated  above,  that  many  of 
the  causes  of  destitution  which  are  immediately  personal, 
are  nevertheless  social  in  their  origin.  Accidents  and 
diseases  which  result  from  normal  employment  in  a  legiti- 
mate industry  are  familiar  examples.  Physical  ineffi- 
ciency often  results  from  bad  factory  conditions.  Loss 
of  independence  and  energy  may  be  the  result  of  a  period 
of  pauperism  caused  by  an  industrial  depression.  For 
this  reason  tabulations  of  the  proximate  causes  of  desti- 
tution tend  strongly  to  overstate  the  personal  causes 
and  understate  the  social  causes.  This  is  made  clear 
by  a  consideration  of  the  conditions  which  prevail  during 
a  slack  industrial  season.  A  study  of  cases  of  pauperism 
at  such  a  time  will  reveal  many  where  the  immediate 
reason  for  unemployment  or  small  wages  seems  to  be 
personal  —  intemperance,  inefficiency,  ignorance,  etc. 
But  the  fact  is  that  these  very  individuals  were  employed 
at  sufficient  wages  during  the  preceding  busy  season,  and 
will  be  employed  again  as  soon  as  things  pick  up.  Any 
one  who  has  studied  wage  earners  at  first  hand  has  almost 
surely  been  impressed  by  the  sorry  types  of  individuals 
who  can  secure  steady  work  when  business  is  booming. 
Of  course,  they  are  the  first  to  be  laid  off  when  the  depres- 
sion comes,  and  so,  in  one  sense,  their  unemployment 
may  be  attributed  to  personal  reasons.  But  it  is  more 
fundamentally  due  to  social  reasons.  For  if  all  employees 
were  on  an  equality  of  reliability  and  efficiency,  some 
would  nevertheless  have  had  to  be  laid  off,  or  all  put  on 
short  time.  In  the  latter  case,  the  total  number  of 
cases  of  destitution  might  be  larger  than  in  the  former. 

So  thoroughly  have  social  workers  been  impressed  with 


ECONOMIC  INCOMPETENCE.    DESTITUTION     167 

these  facts,  that  it  is  common  among  many  of  them  to 
assign  practically  all  cases  of  destitution  to  social  causes 
in  the  final  analysis.  According  to  this  view,  even  such 
distinctly  personal  conditions  as  imbecility  and  intem- 
perance might  have  been  prevented  in  an  ideal  state  of 
society. 

The  final  result  of  the  foregoing  discussion  of  the 
causes  of  destitution  is  merely  to  demonstrate  the  futility 
of  generalizing  at  all  about  destitution,  its  causes  or  its 
cures.  Every  sort  of  abnormality  which  may  affect  the 
ability  to  earn  a  normal  living  —  which  is  to  say,  every 
sort  of  economic  abnormality,  and  many  others  —  may 
and  does  result  in  destitution.  Destitution,  then,  can 
be  eliminated  or  cured  only  by  perfecting  the  social  organ- 
ization, at  least  in  its  economic  departments.  And  that 
means,  that  the  study  of  destitution  is  almost  as  broad  as 
the  study  of  applied  sociology. 

Remedies  for  destitution.  It  does  not  follow,  however, 
that  nothing  is  to  be  done  about  destitution.  Applied 
sociology  deals  largely  with  individuals,  and  in  individual 
cases  of  destitution  much  may  be  accomplished  in  the 
way  of  cure  or  alleviation,  as  a  result  of  scientific  analysis 
and  wise  treatment.  Many  of  the  personal  causes  of 
destitution  can  be  remedied.  Some,  too,  of  the  social 
conditions  which  give  rise  to  destitution  give  promise 
of  yielding  to  scientifically  conceived  and  wisely  admin- 
istered social  action.  And  if  destitution  cannot  be  cured, 
it  frequently  must  be  relieved. 

All  societies  have  recognized  these  facts  more  or  less 
clearly,  and,  from  the  earliest  dawn  of  civilization,  have 
given  some  attention  to  the  destitute  classes,  particularly 
to  those  who  have  reached  the  extreme  stage  of  pauper- 
ism. Methods  and  policies  of  relief  are  among  the  most 


168  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

ancient  forms  of  concerted  social  action.  And,  in  almost 
every  case,  a  part  at  least  of  this  burden  and  responsi- 
bility Jias  been  considered  to  fall  upon  the  state. 

It  would  evidently  be  inappropriate  in  such  a  study  as 
this  to  attempt  to  summarize  the  development  of  the 
poor  laws  of  civilized  states.  AH  that  is  necessary  is  to 
give  enough  consideration  to  some  of  the  salient  points 
to  discern  the  general  principles  involved. 

Among  primitive  peoples  in  all  ages  a  common  method 
of  dealing  with  those  who  are  no  longer  able  to  provide 
their  own  support  is  to  put  them  to  death.  This  custom 
prevailed  in  European  countries  down  to  a  surprisingly 
recent  date.  Where  this  practice  is  embodied  in  the 
mores  it  occasions  no  horror,  nor  do  those  who  are  to  die 
feel  any  resentment  or  sense  of  wrong.  In  fact,  it  is  said 
that  if  those  whose  function  it  is  to  perform  the  execution 
are  reluctant  to  do  their  duty,  the  old  people  will  some- 
times taunt  them  with  their  indecision,  and  urge  them  to 
act.  With  the  growth  of  more  developed  social  relations 
practices  of  this  sort  were  abandoned,  and  not  only  the 
duty,  but  the  social  desirability,  of  providing  for  the 
incompetent  was  recognized.  Among  ancient  peoples, 
the  Hebrews  present  a  system  of  poor  relief  which  is 
most  clearly  the  prototype  of  those  in  vogue  in  modern 
countries.  Not  only  was  private  giving  commended  and 
encouraged,  but  there  were  various  legal  provisions  de- 
signed to  prevent  the  people  from  falling  into  extreme 
destitution. 

In  the  early  Christian  church  charitable  giving  was 
regarded  as  highly  meritorious,  and  the  notion  grew  until 
in  the  Middle  Ages  the  very  act  of  giving  came  to  be 
regarded  as  a  means  of  acquiring  merit,  irrespective  of  the 
results  of  the  gift,  or  the  deserts  of  the  recipient.  Many 


ECONOMIC  INCOMPETENCE.    DESTITUTION    169 

institutions  were  founded  for  the  express  purpose  of 
assisting  the  destitute.  As  a  corollary,  begging  was  not 
only  tolerated,  but  beggars  were  highly  esteemed  — 
the  line  of  reasoning  being,  apparently,  that  since  it  is 
more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive,  it  is  a  sacrificial 
act  to  afford  others  the  opportunity  of  giving.  The  con- 
verse of  the  hospitals  and  monasteries  was  the  begging 
orders. 

The  English  system  of  poor  relief.  It  was  in  England 
that  the  effort  was  first  made  to  grapple  intelligently 
with  the  problem  of  destitution  as  it  existed,  and  the 
foundations  of  modern  relief  systems  were  laid.  As  long 
as  the  feudal  system  was  in  full  swing,  pauperism  in  the 
strict  sense  was  almost  unknown.  Most  individuals 
belonged  to  some  one,  and  the  lord  was  chargeable 
socially  for  the  support  of  his  serfs  when  they  became 
incapacitated.  The  same  situation  prevails  in  a  society 
where  slavery  is  in  the  mores.  Pauperism  was  almost 
unknown  in  the  southern  sections  of  the  United  States 
before  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  for  every  individual 
in  the  classes  most  likely  to  become  dependent  was  the 
property  of  some  one.  Pauperism  is  a  part  of  the  price 
we  pay  for  freedom.  With  the  break  up  of  the  medieval 
system,  and  the  great  economic  changes  which  followed 
the  Black  Death,  the  laboring  population  of  England 
became  detached  from  the  land,  and  large  numbers  of 
them  began  to  wander  about  practically  as  vagrants. 
The  development  of  sheep  farming  and  the  inclosure 
of  the  common  lands  added  to  their  number. 

For  a  time  England  contented  herself  with  com- 
paratively mild  measures,  forbidding  her  people  to  give 
alms  to  sturdy  beggars,  and  endeavoring  to  force  the 
population  to  go  to  work  at  the  old  wages.  In  1530  the 


170  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

first  of  a  series  of  vagrant  acts  was  passed.  These  were 
also  relatively  mild  in  their  provisions  at  first.  Able- 
bodied  mendicants  were  to  be  whipped  until  they  were 
bloody,  returned  to  their  domicile,  and  there  whipped 
until  they  put  themselves  to  labor.  But  "as  no  labor 
was  supplied,  the  legislation  failed."78  Accordingly, 
Parliament  next  tried  the  experiment  of  killing  off  the 
unemployed.  By  the  second  act  of  the  series  it  was 
provided  that  vagrants  were  to  be  first  mutilated  and 
then  hung  as  felons.  In  1547,  "The  landowners  held 
absolute  power,  and  before  they  yielded  to  the  burden  of 
feeding  the  starving  they  seriously  addressed  themselves 
to  the  task  of  extermination.  The  preamble  of  the  third 
act  stated  that  in  spite  of  the  'great  travel'  and  'godly 
statutes'  of  Parliament,  pauperism  had  not  diminished, 
therefore  any  vagrant  brought  before  two  justices  was  to 
be  adjudged  the  slave  of  his  captor  for  two  years.  He 
might  be  compelled  to  work  by  beating,  chaining,  or 
otherwise,  be  fed  on  bread  and  water,  or  refuse  meat, 
and  confined  by  a  collar  of  iron  about  his  neck.  For  his 
first  attempt  at  escape  his  slavery  became  perpetual,  for 
his  second  he  was  hanged."  79 

Measures  of  this  sort  could,  of  course,  never  be  consist- 
ently enforced,  nor  could  they  remain  permanently  the 
nominal  basis  of  social  action.  The  next  development  of 
importance  was  the  introduction  of  the  principle  of  the 
workhouse,  an  institution  for  the  refuge  of  the  destitute, 
where  employment  might  be  provided  for  the  able- 
bodied.  This  expedient  became  thoroughly  imbedded 
in  the  English  system  of  relief,  and  eventually  willingness 
to  enter  the  workhouse  was  made  the  criterion  of  the 
receipt  of  public  assistance.  This  "workhouse  test" 
rested  upon  the  distinction  between  the  two  chief 


ECONOMIC  INCOMPETENCE.    DESTITUTION    171 

methods  of  relief,  "indoor"  and  "outdoor"  relief,  the 
significance  of  which  will  be  considered  a  little  later. 
This  attitude  of  extreme  severity  toward  the  destitute 
was  characteristic  of  English  policy  well  into  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  The  laws  of  settlement,  by  which  every 
individual  was  chargeable  for  relief  upon  the  parish  of  his 
legal  domicile,  were  an  integral  part  of  the  relief  system, 
and  had  a  great  influence  in  preventing  the  mobility  of 
labor. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  great 
wave  of  humanitarianism  which  swept  over  the  nations  of 
western  Europe  produced,  among  other  effects,  a  revolu- 
tionary change  in  the  character  of  the  English  poor  laws. 
Instead  of  being  treated  as  almost  worse  than  criminals, 
the  poor  classes  found  themselves  the  object  of  great 
social  solicitude  and  consideration.  The  law  of  settle- 
ment was  set  aside  to  the  extent  of  allowing  poor  persons 
to  be  adopted  into  a  parish  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the 
landholders.  The  workhouse  test  was  abolished,  and  it 
was  provided  that  work  should  be  furnished  to  the  able- 
bodied  poor  near  their  door.  A  little  later  the  practice 
was  introduced  of  making  allowances  for  the  poor  accord- 
ing to  a  sliding  scale  depending  upon  the  price  of  wheat 
and  the  size  of  the  family.  The  industrious  poor  could 
receive  aid  in  their  homes  in  case  of  sickness.  In  case 
wages  were  inadequate,  the  balance  necessary  for  sup- 
port was  to  be  made  up  from  the  public  funds. 

These  laws  are  among  the  most  remarkable  examples 
of  well-meant,  but  unscientifically  conceived,  legislation 
that  the  modern  world  has  ever  seen.  If  the  veriest 
rudiments  of  social  science  had  been  included  in  the 
mental  outfit  of  the  lawmakers  of  the  day,  the  results 
could  easily  have  been  foreseen.  But  social  science 


172  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

being  almost  non-existent,  experience  alone  could  dem- 
onstrate the  results  of  these  laws.  The  demonstration 
was  appalling.  With  the  removal  of  the  economic  check 
to  large  families  and  improvident  marriages,  the  birth 
rate  among  the  lower  classes  increased.  Employers  of 
labor  took  advantage  of  the  new  provisions  to  cut  wages 
down  to  a  lower  and  lower  figure,  and  soothed  their 
consciences  (when  necessary)  by  considering  the  extraor- 
dinary burden  of  the  poor  rates,  which  increased  nearly 
threefold  in  seven  years.  The  fact  that  these  changes 
were  contemporaneous  with  the  beginnings  of  the  Indus- 
trial Revolution,  when  the  working  classes  under  the 
most  favorable  circumstances  would  have  been  hard  put 
to  it  to  hold  their  own,  aggravated  the  evil  consequences 
of  the  laws.  It  looked  for  a  time  as  if  the  entire  working 
population  of  England  were  in  danger  of  pauperization. 
It  was  at  just  this  time  that  Malthus  wrote  his  famous 
Essay  on  Population,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  he 
took  a  decided  stand  against  lax  poor  laws. 

A  definite  attack  upon  the  situation  was  undertaken 
by  the  Reform  Parliament  of  1832.  A  commission  was 
appointed  which  went  into  the  whole  question  with 
exemplary  thoroughness.  It  was  discovered  that  with 
the  abandonment  of  the  workhouse  test,  most  of  the 
able-bodied  poor  were  being  relieved  in  their  homes,  and 
that  relief  was  usually  given  in  the  form  of  money.  The 
workhouses  had  become  practically  asylums  for  the 
incapacitated.  Some  of  them  were  in  wretched  repair, 
while  others  were  more  comfortable  than  the  homes  of 
the  self-supporting.  Faults  were  found  to  lie  both  in  the 
law  and  its  administration.  An  elaborate  and  inclusive 
program  of  reform  was  outlined,  which  has  formed  the 
basis  of  the  poor  relief  system  of  England  down  to  the 


ECONOMIC  INCOMPETENCE.    DESTITUTION    173 

present.  Prominent  among  the  changes  instituted  were 
the  restoration  of  the  workhouse  test  and  a  more  system- 
atic and  centralized  administration.  The  law  of  settle- 
ment has  been  steadily  liberalized,  and  different  classes 
of  dependents  have  been  more  and  more  segregated  in 
separate  institutions. 

Among  the  relief  systems  of  other  nations,  one  of  the 
most  noteworthy  is  the  so-called  Elberfeld  system,  com- 
mon in  Germany,  by  which  the  administration  of  relief 
is  intrusted  to  volunteer  visitors,  under  official  direction 
and  control.  Relief  is  usually  given  in  money,  on  the 
theory  that  a  poor  family  can  spend  money  more  advan- 
tageously than  any  one  else  can  spend  it  for  them. 
Abuses  are  guarded  against  by  limiting  the  number  of 
cases  handled  by  each  visitor  to  a  maximum  of  four. 

Poor  relief  in  the  United  States.  In  the  United  States 
the  burden  of  poor  relief  has  been  placed  primarily  upon 
the  local  governments,  town  or  county.  The  systems  of 
relief  employed  have  followed  in  general  the  English 
pattern,  but  with  a  much  wider  use  of  outdoor  relief 
proportionally.  Pauperism  has  never  been  such  a  press- 
ing problem  in  the  United  States  as  in  the  older  European 
countries,  because  of  the  naturally  high  standard  of 
living  of  the  nation  as  a  whole.  In  the  early  days, 
paupers  were  so  few  in  number  that  it  was  much  cheaper 
and  more  expedient  to  aid  them  in  their  own  homes,  or 
to  board  them  out,  than  it  was  to  build  and  maintain 
institutions  for  them.  With  increased  density  of  popu- 
lation and  the  change  from  rural  to  urban  economy, 
many  almshouses  have  been  built,  but  the  bulk  of  the 
paupers  of  this  country  are  still  cared  for  outside  of  insti- 
tutions. With  only  three  or  four  notable  exceptions, 
American  cities  still  administer  public  outdoor  relief. 


174  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

Since  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  states 
have  assumed  more  and  more  of  the  oversight  of  relief 
through  their  boards  of  charities,  etc. 

Alongside  of  legal  relief  there  has  continued  to  exist 
the  practice  of  private  relief,  administered  by  individuals 
or  unofficial  organizations  in  the  interest  of  religion  or 
common  humanity.  In  some  cases  the  tie  between  helper 
and  helped  is  so  close  that  there  is  no  question  of  pauper- 
ism ;  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  pauperism  is  just  as 
actual  as  when  relief  comes  from  public  sources.  Fre- 
quently no  small  rivalry  exists  between  the  official  and 
unofficial  agencies. 

The  desirability  of  different  forms  of  relief.  Leaving 
aside  all  the  technical  details  of  the  organization  of  relief 
agencies  and  the  administration  of  relief,  two  questions 
of  large  sociological  importance  stand  out  clearly.  These 
are  the  relative  merits  of  indoor  and  outdoor  relief,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  merits  of  public  and  private  relief 
on  the  other.  As  regards  the  problem  of  where  relief 
shall  be  administered,  it  is  generally  admitted  that  out- 
door relief,  while  usually  preferred  by  those  who  are 
assisted,  tends  to  be  unscientific  in  character,  to  foster 
laziness  and  dependence,  and  to  be  abused.  There  is 
danger  that  it  will  be  granted  on  insufficient  grounds,  and 
will  come  to  be  considered  as  a  right.  It  is  likely  to  be 
expensive  and  wasteful.  Yet  there  are  many  cases, 
especially  of  temporary  relief,  where  it  is  much  preferable 
to  the  other  method.  Indoor  relief,  on  the  other  hand, 
while  economical,  efficient,  and  not  liable  to  abuse,  tends 
to  become  mechanical,  impersonal,  and,  at  its  worst,  brutal. 
It  loses  much  of  the  element  of  human  fellowship  and 
sympathy,  and  is  likely  to  exclude  many  who  need  and  de- 
serve help  most,  but  who  shrink  from  institutional  life. 


ECONOMIC  INCOMPETENCE.     DESTITUTION     175 

As  between  public  and  private  relief,  it  appears  that 
public  relief  tends  to  be  impersonal  and  stereotyped.  It 
is  likely  to  be  regarded  as  a  right  by  those  in  need,  and 
to  be  administered  as  a  routine  duty  by  those  in  charge. 
Investigation  is  likely  to  be  inadequate,  and  the  entire 
administration  unscientific.  In  democracies  there  is 
always  the  danger  of  the  corrupting  influence  of  politics, 
especially  where  there  is  no  property  qualification  for 
voting.  Private  relief,  on  the  other  hand,  while  sympa- 
thetic and  individualistic,  is  also  likely  to  be  unscientific 
and  emotional.  Under  proper  jurisdiction,  however, 
there  is  much  greater  possibility  and  probability  of 
adequate  investigation,  analysis,  and  diagnosis,  and  much 
closer  adaptation  of  the  type  of  relief  to  the  needs  of  the 
individual  case,  than  in  public  relief.  Where  private 
agencies  undertake  to  manage  institutions,  there  is  always 
the  danger  of  rivalry  and  duplication,  and  the  temptation 
to  make  a  better  showing  from  the  point  of  view  of  num- 
bers than  the  funds  in  hand  will  warrant. 

The  present  sentiment  of  social  workers  seems  to  be 
that  none  of  these  forms  of  relief  should  as  yet  be  dis- 
carded, but  that,  as  a  general  rule,  outdoor  relief  should 
be  abandoned  by  public  agencies,  and  intrusted  to  un- 
official agencies,  whereas  institutional  relief  should  as 
far  as  possible  be  administered  by  the  public  through 
official  representatives. 

The  experience  of  Brooklyn  in  abolishing  public  out- 
door relief  in  1879  furnishes  a  striking  illustration  of  these 
principles.  During  the  previous  year,  46,000  persons  had 
received  public  outdoor  relief  and  9706  public  indoor 
relief.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  outdoor 
relief  was  discontinued  at  a  stroke,  the  total  number 
receiving  indoor  relief  rose  by  less  than  2000  for  the  next 


1 76  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

six  years,  in  spite  of  the  growth  of  population,  nor  were 
the  burdens  of  the  private  relief  agencies  increased. 
The  saving  to  the  city  was  very  great,  and  yet  the  condi- 
tion of  the  very  poor  showed  actual  improvement.80 

Scientific  treatment  of  destitution.  Throughout  the 
foregoing  discussion,  the  assumption  has  been  followed 
that  the  poor  we  have  always  with  us,  and  that  they  must 
be  helped.  The  type  of  help  administered  by  practically 
all  charitable  agencies,  public  or  private,  has  always  been 
of  the  sort  appropriately  styled  "relief."  But  within 
recent  years  clear  thinkers  have  come  to  see  that  there 
is  one  sweeping  criticism  of  the  whole  traditional  system 
of  reh'ef,  by  whomsoever  administered,  viz.  that  it  makes 
paupers.  As  long  as  a  person  or  a  family  remain  self- 
supporting,  however  destitute  they  may  be,  self-respect 
and  character  are  left  intact.  But  as  soon  as  some  one, 
on  whom  they  have  no  natural  claim,  gives  them  material 
assistance,  though  their  temporary  situation  is  improved, 
yet  they  lose  something  of  infinite  value  —  they  have 
become  paupers.  And  even  though  the  relationship 
is  only  transitory,  yet  the  blemish  remains,  and  the 
step  over  the  line  is  vastly  easier  at  the  next  period  of 
hardship. 

Consequently,  within  very  recent  years  the  conviction 
has  become  deeply  seated  that  while  extreme  destitution 
must,  of  course,  be  relieved,  yet  real  assistance  to  the 
poorer  classes  consists  not  in  reh'ef  in  the  old  sense,  but 
in  two  new  expedients;  first,  helping  the  poor  to  help 
themselves,  without  the  contribution  of  any  material 
goods;  and  second,  preventing  extreme  destitution  by 
prophylactic  measures.  On  the  basis  of  these  two 
principles  has  grown  up  the  modern  Charity  Organization 
movement.  Its  fundamental  tenets  are  cooperation, 


ECONOMIC  INCOMPETENCE.     DESTITUTION    177 

investigation,  and  prevention.  At  its  best,  its  work  is 
thoroughly  scientific,  and  therefore  efficient. 

This  movement  had  its  origin  in  London  in  1869,  while 
the  first  society  in  the  United  States  was  organized  in 
Buffalo  in  1877.  Since  that  time  the  movement  has 
spread  with  great  rapidity,  until  now  every  up-to-date 
city  has  some  organization  on  the  general  plan.  The 
typical  Charity  Organization  Society  aims  to  coordinate 
the  work  of  the  existing  philanthropic  agencies  of  the 
city,  without  taking  the  place  of  any  of  them,  thereby 
avoiding  duplication,  overlapping,  and  waste.  The  staff 
of  such  an  organization  is  usually  composed  of  paid 
secretaries  and  office  workers,  and  volunteer  visitors. 

The  Charity  Organization  Society  usually  administers 
little,  if  any,  direct  relief.  Its  distinctive  functions  are 
investigation,  diagnosis,  and  perhaps  prescription.  It 
treats  each  case  of  need  as  a  distinct  and  individual 
problem.  All  possible  facts  are  secured  as  to  the  causes 
and  circumstances  which  affect  the  situation.  Then  a 
plan  is  worked  out,  aiming  to  relieve  immediate  distress, 
of  course,  but  designed  much  more  to  bring  the  family 
back  to  the  plane  of  comfortable  self-support.  The 
administration  of  direct  relief  is  usually  intrusted  to  the 
appropriate  special  agency. 

This  conception  of  "charity"  at  once  solves  the  ques- 
tion as  to  who  ought  to  receive  relief.  If  relief  takes  the 
form,  not  of  a  dole  of  goods  or  money,  but  of  assistance 
in  establishing  self-respecting  independence,  any  one 
ought  to  receive  relief  who  desires  it,  for  it  can  do  no 
harm.  Pauperization  cannot  result  from  help  of  this  sort. 
This  also  reveals  the  fallacy  of  the  argument  so  often 
brought  forward  as  a  reason  (or  excuse)  for  not  contrib- 
uting to  the  support  of  Charity  Organization  Societies, 


1 78  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

that  too  much  of  the  money  goes  for  administration,  and 
not  enough  for  "relief."  If  the  Charity  Organization 
Society  could  achieve  its  ideal,  none  of  its  money  would 
go  for  "relief"  in  the  ordinary  sense. 

Objections  to  scientific  treatment.  Many  sympathetic 
and  altruistic  persons,  however,  feel  a  strong  prejudice 
against  organized  charity  on  the  ground  that  it  is  too 
mechanical  and  impersonal,  and  lacks  the  hand-to-hand 
touch  of  brotherliness  that  philanthropy  ought  really  to 
have.  There  is  no  doubt  that  organized  charity  does 
stand  in  constant  danger  of  becoming  hard,  stereotyped, 
and  even  cold  blooded.  But  if  properly  safeguarded  it 
will  be  less  so  than  the  old-fashioned  methods.  For,  as 
mentioned  above,  the  foundation  principle  of  systematic 
charity  is  the  individualization  of  each  case,  which  can  be 
achieved  only  on  the  basis  of  thorough  investigation. 
Nothing  could  really  be  more  a  matter  of  routine  than  the 
habit  of  giving  a  dime  or  a  quarter  to  a  beggar  on  the 
street,  or  a  cold  hand-out  to  a  tramp  at  the  back  door. 
At  any  rate,  systematic  and  organized  charity  is  the  only 
kind  which  is  scientific  at  the  present  day.  Direct 
"benevolence"  was  legitimate  and  helpful  in  the  days  of 
which  it  could  be  said,  "The  essence  of  medieval  society 
was  that,  in  every  manor,  every  one  knew  every  thing 
about  his  neighbor,"  81  and  it  is  still  justified  where 
conditions  of  that  sort  prevail.  In  small  villages,  there 
may  be  a  few  poor  families,  known  to  every  one,  who  will 
perhaps  not  be  harmed,  even  if  they  are  not  much  helped 
in  the  true  sense,  by  the  receipt  of  contributions  from 
those  who  are  really  their  friends.  Possibly  there  is  no 
better  way  for  those  who  are  well  off  to  actually  help  the 
destitute,  than  to  make  real  personal  friends  of  one  or 
two  poor  families,  and  give  them  the  sort  of  assistance 


ECONOMIC  INCOMPETENCE.     DESTITUTION     179 

which  will  be  of  positive  benefit.  But  there  are  few 
who  have  the  time,  talent,  or  inclination  for  this  sort 
of  philanthropy,  and,  in  general,  the  type  of  social  rela- 
tions which  justify  direct  methods  of  charity  are  not 
characteristic  of  twentieth  century  life. 

It  is  simply  another  instance  of  the  complex  and 
impersonal  organization  of  modern  life.  No  layman 
can  possibly  inform  himself,  regarding  the  conditions 
which  surround  all  of  those  who  apply  to  him  for  assist- 
ance, with  sufficient  thoroughness  to  enable  him  to 
administer  scientific  help.  Without  this,  what  he  does 
may  be  no  real  help  at  all.  As  we  have  specialized  in 
everything  else,  so  we  are  forced  to  specialize  in  our 
benevolence.  Division  of  labor  has  extended  its  domin- 
ion into  the  realm  of  charity,  and  sound  relief  can  now 
be  administered  only  by  the  trained  expert.  We  may 
not  like  it,  but  we  are  compelled  to  accept  it  as  a  con- 
comitant of  the  existing  economic  organization. 

In  the  face  of  these  facts,  a  common  specious  justifi- 
cation of  haphazard  giving  stands  unmasked.  This  is 
expressed  in  the  saying,  "I  would  rather  help  nine  un- 
worthy persons,  than  turn  away  one  worthy  person." 
There  are  two  main  faults  to  be  found  with  this  sentiment. 
In  the  first  place,  scientific  practical  sociologists  no  longer 
recognize  as  valid  the  distinction  between  the  "worthy" 
and  the  "unworthy"  poor.  Any  one  who  needs  help 
is  worthy  of  it.  The  help  may  take  different  forms.  In 
one  case  it  may  consist  of  free  sanitarium  care  for  the 
husband,  and  a  fresh  air  outing  for  the  wife  and  children ; 
in  another,  three  months  in  jail  for  the  father,  the  Keeley 
cure  for  the  mother,  and  the  reform  school  for  the 
children.  But  if  it  is  scientifically  designed  to  bring  the 
family  back  to  normality,  it  is  just  as  truly  help,  and  just 


i8o  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

as  much  merited,  in  one  case  as  in  the  other.  In  the 
second  place,  it  is  a  mistake  to  assume  that  under  modern 
conditions  indiscriminate  giving  is  a  help  either  to  the 
"worthy"  or  the  "unworthy."  The  only  real  help 
must  rest  upon  a  thorough  investigation  and  expert 
diagnosis ;  failing  this,  impulsive  relief  is  almost  sure  to 
do  more  harm  than  good,  and  is  very  likely  to  help  to 
perpetuate  the  very  evil  it  is  designed  to  remedy. 

There  is  still  another  group  of  thinkers  who  object  to 
the  entire  practice  of  assistance  to  the  handicapped  on 
evolutionary  grounds.  It  is  asserted  that  by  artificially 
prolonging  the  existence  of  the  unfit,  the  operation  of 
natural  selection  is  checked,  and  the  progress  of  the 
human  species  is  hindered.  The  answer  to  this  argument 
is  furnished  by  pure  sociology,  which  teaches  that  the 
evolution  of  the  human  race  has  for  a  long  time  proceeded, 
not  on  the  basis  of  individual,  but  of  societal  competition, 
selection,  and  elimination.  The  present  struggle  is  be- 
tween forms  of  social  organization,  and  in  many  cases 
the  societal  characteristics  which  conduce  to  the  fitness 
and  survival  of  the  group  are  the  very  ones  which  lead 
men  to  protect  and  sustain  their  weaker  fellows.  Social 
solidarity  and  strength  depend  very  largely  upon  the 
sentiments  of  sympathy,  fellowship,  consideration,  and 
cooperation  which  are  fostered  by  unselfish  care  of  those 
who  are  unfit  to  maintain  themselves  in  the  competition 
of  life.  Furthermore,  because  of  the  intellectual  char- 
acter of  societal  evolution,  it  often  happens  that  many 
who  would  be  too  weak  to  face  unaided  the  battle  of  life, 
will  nevertheless,  if  aided,  be  able  to  render  inestimable 
service  to  their  group.82 


CHAPTER  X 

ECONOMIC   MALADJUSTMENTS  AND  REMEDIES 

Three  special  types  of  economic  maladjustment.  There 
are  three  great  types  of  social  maladjustment  which, 
although  included  among  the  causes  of  destitution,  are 
of  too  much  importance  to  be  treated  merely  as  such. 
Their  effects  are  varied  and  far-reaching.  These  are  in- 
dustrial injuries,  unemployment,  and  crises  or  depressions. 

Industrial  injuries.  Under  the  first  head  are  included 
all  injuries  suffered  by  workers  in  the  course  of  their 
employment,  and  as  a  result  or  accompaniment  of  their 
employment.  There  are  three  main  types,  deterio- 
ration, disease,  and  accident.  By  industrial  deteriora- 
tion is  meant  the  general  wearing  down  or  weakening 
which  results  from  employment,  but  does  not  take  the 
form  of  any  specific  disease  or  injury.  Its  result  is  to 
lower  health  or  efficiency  or  both.  It  may  arise  from  a 
variety  of  causes,  including  bad  sanitary  conditions  in 
factories  or  workshops,  too  long  hours,  too  long  retention 
of  one  position,  either  sitting  or  standing,  bad  positions 
(stooping,  reaching,  etc.),  too  much  monotony,  etc. 

One  of  the  most  serious  forms  of  deterioration  is  over- 
fatigue  or  exhaustion.  This  subject  is  receiving  much 
attention  of  late.  Scientific  investigation  has  revealed 
the  fact  that  bodily  fatigue  is  due  to  the  accumulation 
of  poisons  in  the  system.  These  poisons  are  the  by- 
products of  exertion,  the  wastes  resulting  from  the 

181 


182  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

chemical  changes  which  take  place  in  the  bodily  cells  as 
an  accompaniment  of  muscular  effort.  These  toxic  agents 
are  normally  excreted  by  various  organs,  the  lungs, 
kidneys,  pores,  etc.  But  the  process  takes  time,  and  in 
ordinary  forms  of  work  the  body  cannot  dispose  of  the 
fatigue  poisons  as  fast  as  they  are  formed.  Conse- 
quently, periods  of  rest  must  intervene  between  the 
periods  of  work.  If  these  rest  periods  are  of  sufficient 
length,  all  of  the  poisons  accumulated  during  the 
preceding  period  of  work  will  be  disposed  of,  and  the 
worker  will  begin  the  next  period  of  labor  with  renewed 
vigor  and  efficiency.  But  if  the  period  of  rest  is  too 
short,  or,  conversely,  if  the  period  of  labor  is  too  long, 
the  body  will  not  be  able  to  throw  off  the  poisons,  so  that 
the  worker  will  begin  the  next  period  of  labor  with  some 
poison  still  in  his  system.  If  this  situation  is  regular,  the 
effects  of  fatigue  become  cumulative,  the  poisons  are 
stored  up  in  the  system,  and  produce  a  progressive  de- 
cline in  efficiency. 

Thus  the  evils  of  unduly  long  hours  are  much  more 
serious  than  merely  the  extended  irksomeness  of  labor, 
or  the  reduced  period  for  recreation.  For  the  employer 
they  mean  an  inefficient  working  force,  much  bad  work, 
and  many  interruptions  and  injuries  to  the  machinery. 
To  the  laborer,  they  mean  a  constantly  diminishing 
productiveness,  and  therefore  a  lessened  earning  power. 
The  liability  to  industrial  accident  is  also  largely  in- 
creased by  fatigue. 

These  facts  explain  what  seemed  for  so  long  a  time  like 
an  economic  paradox,  viz.,  that  the  shortening  of  the 
working  day,  within  limits,  results  in  a  diminution  neither 
of  product  nor  of  profits,  and  in  some  cases  in  an  in- 
crease of  both.  Mention  has  been  made  above  of  the 


MALADJUSTMENTS  AND   REMEDIES       183 

long  working  day  which  established  itself  as  the  normal 
condition  in  the  early  years  of  the  factory  system.  The 
reduction  in  these  hours  was  brought  about  in  the  first 
instance  not  by  the  play  of  economic  forces,  but  by  the 
demands  of  humanitarianism.  It  was  believed,  even 
by  some  of  its  advocates,  that  it  would  strike  a  serious 
blow  to  the  industries  where  it  was  first  applied,  i.e. 
the  textile  industries  in  England  (in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
Robert  Owen  had  demonstrated  the  contrary  some  years 
before  in  his  own  factory).  Extremists  thought  that 
it  meant  the  practical  ruin  of  the  entire  industry.  Yet 
experience  proved  that,  with  few  exceptions,  profits 
were  not  diminished,  and  in  some  cases  were  increased. 
It  has  been  a  general  rule,  down  to  the  present  day, 
that  actual  reductions  of  hours  in  various  industries  have 
proved  to  the  advantage  of  the  employer  as  well  as  the 
laborer.  Yet  these  changes  have  invariably  met  with 
great  opposition.  They  have  usually  been  empirical, 
in  the  lack  of  reliable  data  upon  which  to  base  them,  and 
various  economic  theories  —  the  labor  theory  of  value, 
and  the  Marxian  last-hour  theory  of  profit,  for  instance 
—  have  stood  in  their  way.  Employers  are  likely  to 
think  that  for  their  own  industry,  at  least,  in  their  own 
day,  the  shortening  of  hours  has  reached  its  justifiable 
limit.  There  is,  of  course,  no  way  of  telling  just  how  far 
this  reduction  of  working  time  might  be  carried  without 
interfering  with  production.  No  test  has  yet  been  de- 
vised except  experience.  Doubtless  it  differs  in  different 
industries.  There  is  a  general  sentiment  among  a 
number  of  agitators  that  Nature  has  fixed  eight  hours  as 
the  proper  working  day  —  eight  hours  for  labor,  eight 
hours  for  recreation,  eight  hours  for  sleep.  Up  to  the 
present,  only '  in  Australasia  has  the  eight-hour  day 


184  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

become  general.  In  the  light  of  these  facts,  it  is  easy  to 
understand  why  these  changes  have  had  to  be  accom- 
plished almost  invariably  by  legal  means.  Because  of 
the  nature  of  individualistic  competition,  noted  above 
(page  50),  well-intentioned  employers  could  not  under- 
take to  do  what,  according  to  current  opinion,  meant 
disaster  or  ruin. 

Industrial  diseases  occur  in  connection  with  a  large 
number  of  modern  industrial  processes,  and  take  a  wide 
variety  of  forms.  Prominent  among  them  are  diseases 
resulting  from  occupation  in  the  chemical  industries, 
particularly  those  using  lead,  phosphorus,  lacquer,  etc., 
and  from  the  dusty  trades,  such  as  the  textiles,  mining, 
grinding  of  various  sorts,  etc.  The  United  States 
Bureau  of  Labor,  in  one  of  its  bulletins,83  publishes  a  list 
of  fifty-four  distinct  industrial  poisons,  some  of  which 
have  several  subdivisions.  It  is  needless  to  attempt  to 
enumerate  all  the  forms  of  industrial  disease  which  exist. 
One  of  the  most  striking  examples  of  the  nature  and  origin 
of  industrial  disease,  and  the  possibilities  and  means  of 
eliminating  it,  is  furnished  by  the  history  of  "phossy  jaw  " 
in  the  United  States.  This  is  a  disease  which  attacks 
workers  in  the  phosphorus  match  industry.  It  has  been 
practically  legislated  out  of  existence  by  a  remarkable 
combination  of  public  spirit  on  the  part  of  a  corporation 
which  owned  a  valuable  patent,  an  awakened  conscience 
on  the  part  of  the  general  public,  and  a  somewhat  tardy, 
but  eventually  effective,  response  on  the  part  of  the  law- 
makers. It  is  worthy  of  note,  in  passing,  that  one  of  the 
arguments  soberly  advanced  by  a  congressman  against 
legally  favoring  the  new  safety  match  was  that  it  would 
not  strike  on  the  seat  of  the  trousers ;  M  and  also,  that 
the  thing  which  finally  settled  the  question  in  the  minds 


MALADJUSTMENTS  AND   REMEDIES        185 

of  the  congressional  committee  was  the  appearance 
before  them  of  an  actual  sufferer  from  "phossy  jaw," 
his  face  horribly  disfigured  by  the  disease. 

Many  diseases,  not  exclusively  industrial,  are  often 
industrial  in  their  origin.  Thus  consumption  is  fre- 
quently caused  or  aggravated  by  participation  in  dusty 
trades.  The  relative  amount  of  consumption  among 
workers  in  various  forms  of  dusty  trades  has  been  stated 
as  follows:  in  metallic  dust,  28.0;  mineral  dust,  25.2; 
mixed  dust,  22.6;  animal  dust,  20.8;  vegetable  dust, 
13.3  ;  while  in  the  non-dusty  trades  it  is  u.i.85  For  this, 
and  other  obvious  reasons,  it  is  impossible  to  arrive  at 
an  accurate  estimate  of  the  prevalence  of  industrial 
diseases. 

Industrial  accidents  are  the  sudden,  violent  injuries 
received  in  the  course  of  occupation.  They  occur  in  a 
wide  variety  of  forms,  and  in  connection  with  many 
different  industries.  Certain  occupations,  however,  are 
marked  by  such  frequent  accidents  as  to  have  become 
known  as  dangerous  trades.  Foremost  among  them  are 
railroading,  mining,  working  in  foundries  and  powder 
mills,  etc.  Some  occupations  combine  liability  to  in- 
dustrial disease  and  industrial  accident.  Such,  for  in- 
stance, is  coal  mining,  where  the  danger  is  both  from 
dust  and  from  falls  of  rock  or  explosions.  No  accurate 
statistics  exist  of  the  number  of  industrial  accidents  in 
the  United  States,  but  it  has  been  estimated  that  the 
total  number  reaches  half  a  million  a  year.86 

All  of  these  forms  of  industrial  injury  are  to  be  classed 
as  maladjustments  because  they  arise  in  connection  with 
the  natural,  easiest,  and  cheapest  methods  of  carrying 
on  certain  industrial  processes,  and  therefore  are  sure  to 
appear  when  the  play  of  economic  forces,  in  a  competi- 


186  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

tively  organized  society,  is  left  unhampered  by  any 
form  of  social  control.  Because  of  the  tendency,  noted 
above  (page  50),  for  methods  of  industry  to  gravitate 
toward  the  standard  set  by  the  least  socially  minded  of 
the  efficient  producers,  it  follows  that  those  erhployers 
of  labor,  whose  humanitarianism  would  lead  them  to 
maintain  better  conditions  in  their  plants,  are  economi- 
cally powerless  to  do  so  without  some  social  support. 
Accordingly,  in  every  progressive  society,  an  increasing 
number  of  these  injurious  conditions  are  taken  out  of 
the  category  of  maladjustments,  and  are  made  crimes. 
The  legislative  measures  providing  for  the  proper  sanita- 
tion of  workshops  and  factories,  the  ventilation  of  mines, 
the  guarding  of  machinery,  the  installation  of  safety 
devices  on  railroads,  the  proper  handling  of  poisonous 
substances,  etc.,  are  very  numerous  and  inclusive.  And 
no  fault  is  found  with  them  by  any  one,  except  those  who 
would  naturally  prefer  private  profit  to  social  soundness. 
It  is  to  be  noted  further  that  these  measures  do  not  elimi- 
nate competition,  but  fix  a  certain  plane  below  which 
competition  may  not  take  place. 

Unemployment  and  crises.  Unemployment  must  be 
considered  as  one  of  the  permanent  factors  in  the  life 
of  the  modern  workingman.  Reliable  figures  are  want- 
ing as  to  the  amount  or  extent  of  unemployment  in  the 
United  States.  Some  of  the  estimates  are  at  least 
startling,  if  not  wholly  trustworthy.  Certainly  un- 
employment looms  large  enough  to  make  it  a  matter  of 
the  greatest  moment  to  the  wage-earning  classes,  and  to 
society  in  general.  It  is  the  exceptional  worker,  in  what- 
ever trade,  who  does  not  experience  some  unemploy- 
ment during  the  year,  ranging  all  the  way  from  a  few 
days  or  weeks  to  six  months  or  more. 


MALADJUSTMENTS  AND   REMEDIES        187 

Unemployment  may  be  denned  as  forced  or  involun- 
tary abstention  from  remunerative  labor  during  normal 
working  time.  It  would  obviously  be  incorrect  to 
class  under  this  head  the  idleness  of  laborers  while  on  a 
strike  of  their  own  making,  or  that  of  the  laborer  who 
wishes  to  work  ten  hours  a  day  when  the  legal  working 
day  is  eight  hours. 

The  causes  of  unemployment  may  be  broadly  divided 
into  personal  and  social,  which  is  another  way  of  saying 
that  unemployment  is  partly  incapacity  and  partly 
maladjustment.  In  many  cases  the  incapacity  traces 
back  to  immorality  on  the  part  of  the  individual,  but 
in  every  case  of  real  unemployment  the  proximate 
personal  cause  is  incapacity,  since  the  individual 
wishes  to  work  and  cannot.  The  specific  forms  of 
incapacity  which  lead  to  unemployment  are  virtually 
the  same  as  those  which  lead  to  destitution,  since 
unemployment  and  destitution  are  almost  interchange- 
able terms. 

The  present-day  tendency  is  undoubtedly  to  emphasize 
the  importance  of  the  social  causes  of  unemployment 
rather  than  the  personal.  As  has  been  observed,  much 
unemployment  which  seems  to  be  due  to  the  weakness  of 
the  individual  is  really  traceable  to  some  social  derange- 
ment. Both  general  and  particular  conditions  are  found 
among  the  social  causes  of  unemployment.  It  appears 
to  be  true  that  the  very  conditions  of  modern  production 
tend  to  give  a  certain  periodicity  to  enterprise,  and  there- 
fore to  employment.  The  same  forces  which  from  time 
to  time  eventuate  in  crises  or  depressions,  at  all  times 
are  causing  business  activity  to  wax  and  wane ;  the  in- 
terrelation between  crises  and  that  portion  of  unemploy- 
ment which  may  be  called  maladjustment  is  undoubtedly 


i88  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

very  close.  It  would  be  out  of  place  in  this  connection 
to  seek  to  examine  and  analyze  the  causes  of  the  cyclical 
nature  of  modern  industry.  This  is  a  problem  which  is 
receiving  earnest  attention  from  many  of  the  foremost 
economists  of  the  day.  To  recognize  that  the  same 
forces,  in  part  at  least,  lie  back  of  both  crises  and  un- 
employment is  to  add  another  incentive  to  the  solution 
of  the  problem  and  the  search  for  a  remedy. 

Among  the  particular  conditions  which  cause  unem- 
ployment some  apply  to  special  industries.  Foremost 
in  this  category  stand  what  are  known  as  the  seasonal 
trades.  Some  trades  are  seasonal  because  they  depend 
directly  upon  climatic  changes,  such  as  agriculture, 
forestry,  construction  work,  etc.  Others  are  seasonal 
because  they  follow  fashions  which  vary  with  the  seasons ; 
such  are  tailoring,  millinery,  the  fur,  flower,  and  feather 
trades,  etc.  Still  others  are  seasonal  because  of  certain 
social  institutions  which  are  localized  at  given  points  in 
the  calendar,  though  independent  of  the  weather  or  the 
climate.  The  most  striking  example  under  this  head  is 
the  Holiday  Season  in  Christian  countries,  and  all  the 
occupations  which  are  affected  by  it  —  clerks  in  depart- 
ment stores,  workers  in  candy  and  paper  box  factories, 
employees  of  express  companies,  etc.  But  whatever  the 
nature  of  seasonal  unemployment,  there  is  no  question 
that  it  is  very  widespread  and  works  great  hardship  to 
the  wage  earners.  Even  if  it  were  true  that  the  total 
yearly  income  in  such  trades  amounted  to  fifty-two 
weeks'  pay  at  fair  rates  —  and  this  seldom  is  true  — 
nevertheless  the  moral  effect  upon  the  wage  earner  of 
such  a  fluctuating  income  is  far  from  good,  and  there  is 
a  tendency  to  extravagance  during  "flush"  times,  and  a 
neglect  to  provide  for  the  slack  season. 


MALADJUSTMENTS  AND  REMEDIES       189 

It  is  unnecessary  to  discuss  in  detail  the  effects  of 
unemployment  —  they  are  obvious  enough.  A  class  of 
people  with  so  narrow  a  margin  between  income  and 
necessities  as  the  modern  wage  earning  class  must  in- 
evitably suffer  great  hardship  from  periods  when  income 
ceases  partly  or  altogether.  It  should  be  recalled,  in 
passing,  that  one  of  the  most  deplorable  results  of  the 
extreme  and  protracted  periods  of  unemployment  such  as 
accompany  our  great  crises  and  depressions  is  the  forcing 
of  many  previously  independent  and  self-respecting 
families  over  the  line  into  pauperism. 

As  regards  the  remedies  for  unemployment,  no  very 
great  progress  can  yet  be  claimed.  In  spite  of  all  the 
study  and  effort  which  have  been  devoted  to  the  subject 
in  recent  years  the  evil  appears  to  be  on  the  increase 
rather  than  the  reverse.  The  general  causes  are  too 
deep-seated  and  too  intricately  bound  up  with  the  entire 
economic  fabric  to  offer  much  hope  for  the  adequacy  of 
any  specific  measure.  Some  slight  gains  may  no  doubt 
be  accomplished  by  such  measures  as  improved  systems 
of  employment  agencies,  schemes  for  "dove-tailing" 
occupations,  etc.  Particularly  noteworthy  are  the  efforts 
of  storekeepers  to  tide  over  dull  seasons  by  variously 
denominated  sales,  such  as  the  January  White  Sales. 
But  granting  all  possible  to  remedies  of  this  type,  it 
must  be  admitted  that  unemployment  in  its  broad  out- 
lines is  one  of  those  problems  the  solution  of  which  lies 
in  the  future. 

Revolutionary  remedies.  All  of  the  plans  or  schemes 
for  betterment  in  the  economic  field  which  have  been 
mentioned  thus  far  belong  to  the  specific  type  of  remedy. 
Each  aims  at  some  particular  economic  evil,  and  pro- 
poses to  correct  it  without  altering  the  general  economic 


190  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

organization  of  society.  There  remain  to  be  considered 
schemes  for  economic  reform  of  the  revolutionary  type, 
of  which  there  are  two  of  importance,  Socialism  and 
Syndicalism. 

Socialism.  Of  the  various  definitions  and  conceptions 
of  socialism  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  current  dis- 
cussions of  the  topic,  that  which  is  most  consistent,  and 
most  nearly  expresses  the  real  spirit  of  the  movement,  is 
"the  government  ownership  of  the  means  of  production." 
In  the  minds  of  many  persons,  socialism  involves  the 
equal  distribution  of  wealth,  or  the  abolition  of  private 
property ;  in  the  minds  of  others  it  is  synonymous  with 
communism,  or  even  with  anarchism.  All  of  these  con- 
ceptions miss  the  mark  more  or  less  widely. 

Socialism  is  the  one  measurably  consistent  program 
before  the  world  to-day  which  rests  upon  the  conviction 
that  the  evils  which  are  so  manifest  in  the  economic  field 
are  inherent  in  the  very  nature  of  the  modern  economic 
organization,  and  hence  can  be  eliminated  only  by  en- 
tirely remodeling  that  organization.  In  the  view  of 
socialism,  the  low  standard  of  living  of  the  working 
classes,  the  unequal  distribution  of  wealth,  the  exploita- 
tion of  the  weak,  the  high  cost  of  the  necessaries  of  life, 
the  worker's  lack  of  interest  in  his  product,  etc.,  are 
all  traceable  directly  to  the  individualistic-capitalistic 
organization  of  society.  Consequently,  any  efforts  to 
remedy  these  evils  which  leave  this  organization  intact 
are  foredoomed  to  failure.  The  only  way  to  introduce 
real  economic  reform  is  to  abolish  either  capitalism  or 
individualism.  Many  speakers  and  writers,  even  among 
socialists,  using  words  loosely,  talk  as  though  socialism 
proposed  to  abolish  capitalism.  This  idea,  however, 
is  very  far  from  the  truth.  Practical  socialism  recog- 


MALADJUSTMENTS  AND  REMEDIES        191 

nizes  that  capitalism  has  come  to  stay,  since  the  advan- 
tages it  offers  in  the  production  of  wealth  are  too  great 
to  be  dispensed  with.  The  thing  to  be  abolished  is 
individualism,  in  so  far  as  it  is  associated  with  the  use  of 
capital.  Most,  if  not  all,  of  the  serious  evils  of  capital- 
ism arise  from  the  fact  that  productive  capital  is  held 
by  private  individuals,  who  utilize  it  on  the  basis  of 
competition  and  private  profit.  If  all  productive  capital 
belonged  to  society,  all  motive  for  competition  would 
vanish,  and  all  the  profit  accruing  from  the  use  of  capital 
would  be  for  the  benefit  of  society  in  general.  It  is  to  be 
carefully  noted  that  socialism  does  not  contemplate  the 
abolition  of  all  private  ownership  of  wealth,  but  only 
of  that  portion  of  wealth  which  is  capital  in  the  strict 
sense,  i.e.  is  utilized  not  for  the  immediate  gratification 
of  human  desires,  but  for  the  production  of  more  wealth. 
Socialism  will  allow  individuals  to  own  houses,  jewels, 
automobiles,  steamboats,  and  even  some  land.  But 
none  of  these  things  may  be  put  to  productive  uses,  that 
is,  not  a  cent's  worth  of  wealth  may  ever  come  to  the 
individual  because  of  his  ownership  of  these  things. 
The  only  rewards  which  society  will  give  to  individuals 
will  be  in  return  for  services  rendered.  Consequently, 
the  only  way  a  man  may  become  relatively  wealthy  will 
be  by  saving  instead  of  spending.  The  possibilities  of 
accumulating  a  fortune  in  this  manner  are  evidently 
strictly  limited  as  compared  with  the  present  system, 
under  which  a  man  may  acquire  indefinite  wealth  by 
investing. 

Thus  socialism,  in  its  conception  of  economic  problems, 
and  in  its  point  of  attack  on  them,  is  strictly  logical 
and  consistent.  It  is  the  only  plan,  worthy  of  serious 
consideration,  which  proposes  to  alter  the  present  highly 


192  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

undesirable  balance  of  power  as  between  manhood  and 
money.  Under  socialism,  the  mere  ownership  of  wealth 
would  not  enable  an  individual  to  live  a  life  of  comfort 
and  luxury  as  it  does  now.  The  economic  power  of  men 
and  of  classes  would  rest  not  upon  what  they  owned, 
but  upon  what  they  did  and  were.  Moderate  socialists 
are  not  so  much  aggrieved  by  the  sight  of  men  receiving 
rich  rewards  in  consideration  of  exceptional  ability, 
industry,  and  efficiency,  as  of  other  men  who  enjoy 
even  greater  privileges  simply  because  a  certain  amount 
of  wealth  stands  in  their  names. 

Socialism,  furthermore,  is  the  only  plan  which  offers 
a  means  of  counteracting  the  forces  which  tend  to  keep 
the  cost  of  necessaries  high,  while  the  cost  of  luxuries 
declines  relatively.  If  all  productive  capital  belonged 
to  society  it  would  be  used  to  produce  those  things  most 
desired  by  society,  and  since,  under  socialism,  the  will  of 
the  majority  would  rule,  the  things  produced  would  be 
those  most  desired  by  the  masses  of  the  people.  The 
things  that  everybody  wants  *  would  be  abundant  and 
cheap,  while  those  wanted  only  by  a  few  would  be  scarce 
and  dear.  Under  socialism,  also,  all  the  undesirable  con- 
ditions which  result  from  the  use  of  capital  by  individual 
owners,  competitively  seeking  private  profits,  would 
automatically  disappear. 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  in  what  it  seeks  to  accomplish, 
socialism  has  much  to  recommend  it  in  the  eyes  of  any 
impartial  student  of  society.  From  the  point  of  view  of 
abstract  social  justice,  it  would  certainly  seem  desirable 
that  remuneration  should  depend  rather  upon  service 
than  upon  the  ownership  of  wealth.  Socialism  offers 
vulnerable  points  of  attack  not  with  respect  to  what  it 
*  Using  "want"  in  the  sense  of  effective  demand. 


MALADJUSTMENTS   AND   REMEDIES        193 

aims  at,  but  with  respect  to  the  means  it  offers  for  hitting 
the  mark.  If  the  ends  desired  by  socialism  could  be 
achieved  without  the  sacrifice  of  any  of  the  advantages 
connected  with  the  present  system,  almost  every  un- 
biased person  would  be  a  socialist.  But  when  we  come 
to  examine  the  practical  program  offered  by  socialism,  it 
is  found  to  be  weak  and  inadequate  in  countless  details. 
And  socialism  is  emphatically  one  of  those  things  of 
which  it  has  been  said,  "the  details  are  everything." 

The  primary  fact  to  be  borne  in  mind  in  the  consider- 
ation of  all  schemes  of  a  socialistic  nature  is  that  the 
existing  individualistic-capitalistic  system  is  the  prod- 
uct of  countless  ages  of  social  evolution.  It  has  proved 
itself  superior  by  the  infallible  tests  of  trial  and  experi- 
ence, and  has  survived  up  to  the  present  time  because  it 
is  the  fittest  system  of  wealth-production  which  human 
society  has  yet  devised.  While  it  does  not  follow  that 
it  is,  therefore,  the  best  system  now,  and  for  all  time  to 
come,  yet  the  burden  of  proof  rests  strongly  upon  those 
who  have  a  substitute  to  offer.  Before  the  advocates 
of  a  new  type  of  economic  organization  can  expect  people 
in  general  to  give  it  their  practical  support,  they  must 
have  a  plan  worked  out  which  absolutely  guarantees  a 
marked  improvement  over  the  system  which  exists,  and 
which  we  know,  in  its  bad  points  as  well  as  its  good  ones. 

Without  attempting  a  detailed  examination  of  the 
weak  points  in  the  practical  program  of  socialism, 
suffice  it  to  mention  only  a  few  of  the  more  vital  ones. 
By  what  means  is  society  to  become  the  possessor  of  all 
existing  capital,  which,  at  the  present  time,  belongs  to 
private  individuals  through  long  centuries  of  socially 
conferred  rights?  When  all  capital  is  the  property  of 
society,  how  is  the  labor  upon  this  capital  to  be  appor- 


194  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY; 

tioned  among  the  members  of  society?  Who  are  to  be 
the  poets,  musicians,  and  railroad  managers,  and  who 
the  glass-blowers,  stokers,  and  garbage-collectors?  In 
what  person,  or  body  of  persons,  is  the  control  of  industry 
to  be  vested,  and  how  are  they  to  be  selected  ?  How  is 
labor,  under  socialism,  to  be  prevented  from  developing 
into  a  system  of  virtual  state  slavery  ?  What  is  to  take 
the  place,  as  an  incentive  to  the  exertion  of  the  individ- 
ual's best  efforts,  of  the  present  rewards  of  industry? 
How  is  invention  to  be  stimulated,  and  industrial  prog- 
ress assured? 

To  these  questions,  and  a  hundred  others  like  them, 
socialism  offers  only  vague,  inconsistent,  and  unsatis- 
factory answers.  There  is  no  general  agreement  among 
leading  socialists,  and  no  concrete  and  complete  plan 
ready  for  adoption.  Until  there  is,  socialism  must  re- 
main what  it  is  now,  a  highly  suggestive,  important,  and 
promising  body  of  doctrines  and  theories,  but  -not  a 
practical  program  for  reorganizing  society.  It  is  worthy 
of  the  most  attentive  and  sympathetic  consideration 
and  study,  but  not  of  adoption  as  a  scheme  of  life. 

There  are  abundant  indications  that  the  near  future 
will  see  some  far-reaching  limitations  of  the'social  preroga- 
tives and  privileges  attaching  to  the  mere  ownership  of 
wealth,  and  an  extension  of  the  recognition  of  service 
as  a  basis  for  social  remuneration.  But  just  what  form 
these  limitations  will  take,  or  by  what  means  they  will 
be  accomplished,  it  is  as  yet  much  too  early  to  predict. 

Syndicalism.  The  Syndicalist  movement  originated 
in  France,  and  has  spread  to  Sweden,  Italy,  England, 
and  other  portions  of  Europe.  In  the  United  States 
the  movement  is  represented  by  the  I.W.W.  —  popularly 
interpreted  as  "I  Won't  Work"  or  "I  Won't  Wash,"  but 


MALADJUSTMENTS  AND   REMEDIES       195 

legitimately  standing  for  Industrial  Workers  of  the 
World.  This  organization  (if  such  it  can  be  called) 
originated  in  Colorado  in  connection  with  the  strike  of 
the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  in  1903.  Its  leaders 
were  ignorant  of  Syndicalism  in  France,  and  the  two 
movements  are  independent  as  regards  origin,  but  they 
represent  so  closely  the  same  body  of  thought  and  the 
same  social  program  that  they  are  recognized  as  parts  of 
the  same  general  movement. 

If  the  program  of  socialism  is  incomplete  and  incon- 
sistent, that  of  syndicalism  is  chaotic,  anarchical,  and 
vicious.  The  line  of  argument  followed  by  the  syndical- 
ists is  about  as  follows  :  All  wealth  is  produced  by  labor, 
and  therefore  belongs  to  labor.  At  the  present  time, 
however,  it  is  held  by  a  few  capitalists,  who,  having  had 
no  original  claim  upon  it,  may  be  considered  to  have 
stolen  it.  Therefore,  capitalists  have  no  present  rights 
to  wealth  which  call  for  consideration,  and  labor  is  just- 
ified in  taking  it  by  any  desired  means.  The  method 
by  which  labor  is  to  become  the  possessor  of  capital 
is  the  following:  All  laborers  are  to  be  organized  into 
unions  vertically  or  on  the  basis  of  industries,  instead 
of  horizontally  or  on  the  basis  of  trades,  as  under  the 
present  system  of  trade  unionism.  Thus  every  industry 
will  be.  a  unit  as  regards  the  affiliation  of  the  laborers 
engaged  in  it.  These  industrial  unions  are  then  to  be 
organized  into  national  bodies,  and  finally  into  one  great 
international  organization,  and  when  the  time  is  ripe  they 
will  simply  take  over  all  capital,  and  run  it  themselves 
and  for  their  own  profit.  The  method  by  which  capital 
is  to  be  seized  is  the  general  strike.  At  the  appointed 
time  all  laborers  will  cease  work.  Since  capital,  without 
labor,  is  of  no  use,  all  the  capital  of  the  world  will  at 


196  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

once  become  valueless,  and  there  will  be  nothing  to 
prevent  labor  from  taking  it  up  and  operating  it  for  the 
benefit  of  labor. 

While  waiting  for  the  great  day  to  come,  syndicalists 
employ  themselves  in  practicing  various  means  of  reduc- 
ing the  value  of  existing  capital  by  cutting  down  the 
profits  of  the  owner.  The  devices  by  which  this  result 
is  accomplished  go  under  the  general  name  of  "sabotage," 
and  are  of  a  high  degree  of  ingenuity.  Anything  which 
will  interfere  with  the  smooth  running  of  industry, 
without  seriously  endangering  the  hold  of  the  syndicalist 
upon  his  job,  is  employed.  As  one  syndicalist  orator 
said,  "You  are  treated  like  dirt  —  put  a  little  dirt  in 
your  work."  This  is  done  literally  as  well  as  figuratively. 
Sand  is  mixed  with  the  grease  before  it  is  put  upon  the 
bearings  of  the  machine,  short  circuits  are  created  in 
expensive  electrical  installations,  a  monkey-wrench  is 
dropped  into  a  complicated  mechanism,  and  car-load 
shipments  are  addressed  to  the  wrong  city.  A  very 
original  method  employed  by  some  clerks  in  stores  is 
to  tell  potential  customers  the  exact  truth  about  the 
goods  they  are  inspecting.  Syndicalists  have  gone  so 
far  as  to  issue  textbooks  in  the  fine  art  of  sabotage. 

Some  attempts  have  also  been  made  to  carry  out 
general  strikes  on  a  limited  scale,  particularly  in  France, 
Sweden,  and  Italy.  As  general  strikes,  most  of  these 
have  failed,  though  a  strike  conducted  in  Italy  in  the 
summer  of  1914  is  said  to  have  revealed  an  extraordinary 
degree  of  organized  power  on  the  part  of  labor.87 

Syndicalism  is  evidently  to  be  regarded  as  a  symptom 
of  discontent,  and  a  protest  against  existing  conditions, 
rather  than  as  a  serious  plan  for  social  reorganization. 
In  its  encouragement  of  lawlessness  and  disregard  of 


MALADJUSTMENTS   AND   REMEDIES       197 

the  rights  of  others  it  contains  the  germs  of  its  own 
destruction.  For  the  only  basis  upon  which  such  a 
scheme  would  have  the  slightest  possibility  of  success 
would  be  a  membership  thoroughly  trained  in  co- 
operation, and  imbued  with  the  highest  regard  for  the 
interests  of  others,  and  respect  for  the  will  of  the  ma- 
jority.88 Syndicalism  has  never  achieved  great  propor- 
tions numerically,  even  in  France.  Like  the  bubbles 
on  the  surface  of  a  stagnant  pool,  it  may  be  easily 
brushed  aside,  but  none  the  less  is  of  importance  as 
indicating  a  fermentation  going  on  beneath  the  surface. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   POPULATION   GROWTH 

Importance  of  reproduction.  The  reproduction  of 
human  beings  is  just  as  essential  to  the  continued  life 
of  society  as  nutrition  and  the  building  up  of  cells  are 
to  the  continued  existence  of  the  individual.  Accord- 
ingly, the  desire  which  leads  to  reproduction  may  justly 
be  regarded,  from  the  social  point  of  view,  as  equally 
important  and  fundamental  with  the  desire  which 
leads  to  taking  food.  Self-maintenance  and  self-per- 
petuation are  the  basic  interests  of  all  human  societies. 
The  social  forms  and  institutions  connected  with  the 
growth  of  population  are  scarcely  second  to  those  con- 
nected with  the  economic  life,  as  regards  their  influence 
in  determining  other  social  characteristics. 

Population  policies.  From  the  very  dawn  of  civi- 
lization, societies  have  recognized  the  importance  of 
the  growth  of  population,  and  have  given  some  attention 
to  the  means  by  which  growth  is  secured  and  to  the 
institutions  which  arise  in  connection  with  it.  Every 
society  has,  and  always  has  had,  its  more  or  less  definitely 
formulated  population  policy.  The  nature  of  this 
policy  depends  upon  the  character  of  the  factors  which 
condition  the  life  of  each  society.  Most  important  and 
determinative  among  these  factors  are  the  economic 
conditions.  Following  these  come  military,  dynastic, 
and  religious  considerations.  Generally  speaking,  a 

198 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  POPULATION  GROWTH    199 

society  which  is  favorably  situated  for  the  struggle  for 
existence,  whose  problem  of  self-maintenance  is  simple, 
will  exhibit  a  population  policy  favorable  to  the  increase 
of  numbers ;  while  a  society  whose  habitat  is  unfavor- 
able, and  whose  means  of  subsistence  are  strictly  limited, 
will  present  a  code  of  rules  and  a  set  of  mores  calculated 
to  keep  population  down  to  a  minimum.  The  former 
types  of  society  will  be  characterized  by  such  features  as 
polygamy,  early  marriage,  and  solicitude  for  the  life  of 
infants ;  the  latter  type  by  polyandry,  infanticide,  and 
exposure  of  infants. 

These  primary  adaptations  are  profoundly  modified 
by  other  considerations.  If  a  society  lives  on  terms  of 
perpetual  hostility  with  near  neighbors,  so  that  many 
lives  are  lost  in  battle,  and  social  survival  is  dependent 
upon  success  in  war,  then  military  considerations  be- 
come weighty  enough  to  cause  the  adoption  of  a  positive 
population  policy,  even  at  the  expense  of  a  lowered 
standard  of  living.  Again,  if  the  type  of  government 
is  monarchical  or  despotic,  so  that  state  interests  center 
in  the  king  and  his  immediate  circle,  all  the  common 
people  being  regarded  as  merely  sources  of  wealth  and 
power,  a  strong  incentive  is  added  to  the  maintenance  of 
a  state  policy  of  rapid  increase.  Finally,  most  religions 
have  favored  a  rapid  multiplication  of  their  adherents, 
partly  because  of  the  influence  of  ancestor-worship, 
partly  because  of  the  natural  impulse  of  every  religious 
body  to  increase  the  numbers  of  its  followers,  partly,  per- 
haps, because  many  religions  owe  some  of  their  char- 
acteristics to  an  early  veneration  of  the  reproductive 
forces  of  man  and  Nature. 

Whatever  the  reasons,  the  fact  is  that,  down  to  the 
present  time,  most  societies  at  most  times  have  in- 


200  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

clined  toward  the  encouragement  of  multiplication,  so 
much  so  that  the  belief  is  well  established  and  tra- 
ditional that  the  welfare  of  a  nation  demands  an  increas- 
ing population,  and  that  national  progress  is  almost 
mathematically  proportioned  to  the  rate  of  multipli- 
cation. A  nation  which,  like  modern  France,  exhibits 
a  practically  stationary  population  is  alarmed  thereby 
and  is  viewed  by  other  nations  with  commiseration,  not 
unmingled  with  suspicion  or  even  reproach.  The  duty 
of  fecundity  has  been  impressed  upon  people  by  the 
various  agencies  which  shape  public  opinion  until  it  has 
become  thoroughly  ingrained  in  the  mind  of  the  masses, 
and  a  married  couple  who  bring  a  large  number  of  children 
into  the  world  are  regarded  as  social  benefactors,  while 
a  couple  who  have  few  or  no  children  are  considered  to 
have  failed  in  their  obligation  to  God  and  mankind. 

Not  until  relatively  recent  years  have  consistent  ef- 
forts been  made  to  place  population  policies  on  a  rational 
and  scientific  basis.  From  time  to  time,  for  several 
centuries  past,  philosophers  have  sought,  with  the  best 
means  at  their  hand,  to  reason  out  the  principles  which 
determine  the  relation  between  population  and  national 
prosperity.  But  their  efforts  have  been  mostly  little 
better  than  gropings  in  the  dark,  and,  until  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  made  little  impress  upon  the 
public  mind,  and  still  less  upon  public  policy.  For  the 
most  part,  the  interests  of  a  despotic  and  militaristic 
governing  class  have  prevailed.  The  common  people 
have  been  made  to  believe  that  their  highest  duty  was 
to  be  in  fact  just  what  their  masters  considered  them  — 
breeders  of  men  to  be  food  for  powder. 

The  Malthusian  doctrine.  The  scientific  study  of 
population  virtually  dates  from  Mai  thus.  It  is  true  that 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  POPULATION  GROWTH    201 

practically  every  one  of  the  principles  expounded  by 
Mai  thus  had  been  enunciated,  sometimes  with  great 
clearness  and  consistency,  long  before  his  time.89  But 
he  was  the  first  to  combine  them  into  a  complete  and 
coherent  system,  to  back  them  up  with  an  abundance  of 
facts,  and  to  present  them  in  a  manner  impressive  to 
any  intelligent  reader.  Furthermore,  he  had  the  in- 
estimable advantage  of  launching  his  theories  at  a 
time  when  social  conditions  afforded  them  ample  sup- 
port, and  the  public  mind  was  prepared,  in  part  at  least, 
to  receive  them. 

From  the  time  when  it  was  first  made  public,  the 
Malthusian  theory  of  population  has  furnished  the 
background  for  all  discussions  of  population  questions, 
and  a  knowledge  of  the  essentials  of  the  Malthusian 
system  is  necessary  for  the  understanding  and  solution 
of  the  problems  of  the  growth  of  population. 

Thomas  R.  Malthus  was  the  son  of  an  English  clergy- 
man, and  was  himself  educated  for  the  church.  During 
the  time  of  his  young  manhood,  the  question  of  the 
perfectibility  of  human  society  was  prominently  in  the 
minds  of  social  philosophers,  and  between  the  younger 
Malthus  and  his  father  many  spirited  discussions  took 
place  as  to  the  possibility  of  achieving  a  universally 
happy  state  of  human  society,  the  older  man  taking  the 
stand  that  such  a  result  was  possible  of  accomplishment, 
the  younger  man  vigorously  opposing  this  view.  As 
T.  R.  Malthus  himself  confessed,  many  arguments  were 
used  by  him  in  the  first  instance  merely  to  support  his 
position  which  upon  subsequent  study  were  found  to  be 
even  sounder  than  he  had  supposed.  The  result  of  these 
discussions  was  the  Essay  on  the  Principle  of  Popu- 
lation, first  given  to  the  public  in  1798.  This  work 


202  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

ran  through  many  editions  subsequently,  and  was  am- 
plified and  enlarged,  but  its  essentials  remained  un- 
changed. 

The  Malthusian  theory  of  population  may  be  very 
briefly  summarized  as  follows :  The  physiological  pos- 
sibilities of  increase  of  the  human  species  are  very  con- 
siderable, and  in  general  tend  to  follow  the  principles  of 
a  geometrical  ratio.  No  demonstration  has  ever  been 
given  as  to  what  the  possible  rate  of  increase  is,  but  it 
is  a  conservative  estimate  that  the  human  race  is  physi- 
ologically capable,  under  favorable  conditions,  of  dou- 
bling every  twenty  years.  A  rate  nearly  as  high  as  this 
was  maintained  for  several  decades  in  the  American 
Colonies  and  the  youthful  United  States.  It  may  be 
affirmed,  then,  that  mankind  tends  to  increase  at  a 
geometrical  ratio.  Actual  population,  however,  de- 
pends, not  only  upon  births,  but  upon  the  maintenance 
of  those  born.  The  necessity  for  food  is  a  basic  human 
fact.  Unless  food  can  be  made  to  increase  at  a  rate 
equal  to  the  potential  increase  of  mankind,  population 
cannot  grow  at  its  maximum  rate.  An  examination  of 
the  actual  conditions  governing  the  production  of  food 
leads  to  the  conclusion  that  food  does  not,  and  cannot 
be  made  to,  increase  at  a  geometrical  ratio.  The 
maximum  possibilities  of  increase  of  food  could  not 
exceed  an  arithmetical  ratio.  It  may  be  stated  then 
that  food  cannot  be  made  to  increase  by  more  than  an 
arithmetic  ratio.* 

*  It  should  be  noted  that  Malthus  did  not  say,  and  took  especial  pains 
not  to  say,  that  food  does  increase,  or  tend  to  increase,  at  an  arithmetical 
ratio.  He  adopted  the  arithmetical  ratio  as  expressing  a  liberal  maxi- 
mum rate  of  increase  under  existing  conditions.  A  misconception  of 
this  portion  of  his  argument  accounts  for  much  of  the  criticism  of  Mal- 
thus' system.  The  facts  are,  of  course,  that  the  principles  of  increase 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  POPULATION  GROWTH    203 

Now  it  is  a  simple  mathematical  principle  that  when 
two  correlated  quantities  are  increasing,  one  at  a  geo- 
metric ratio  and  the  other  at  an  arithmetic  ratio,  the 
former  will  very  speedily  outstrip  the  latter,  however 
nearly  equal  they  may  be  at  the  beginning,  or  even  if 

of  mankind  and  of  food  are  essentially  the  same.  The  food  of  man  con- 
sists of  plants  and  animals,  and  since  all  animals  either  live  on  plants, 
or  on  other  animals  which  live  on  plants,  it  is  accurate  to  say  that  the 
food  of  man,  in  the  final  analysis,  comes  from  plants,  and  is  therefore 
conditioned  upon  the  increase  of  plants.  The  tendency  of  plants,  just  as 
truly  as  of  man,  is  to  increase  at  a  geometrical  ratio,  and  a  ratio  much 
higher  than  doubling  every  twenty  years.  The  inadequacy  of  the  in- 
crease of  plants  to  meet  human  needs  is  explained  by  two  considerations. 
First,  the  plants  got  here  first.  Long  before  man  appeared,  plants  had 
been  increasing  for  countless  milleniums,  and  had  reached  the  maximum 
quantity  supportable  upon  the  earth  as  it  was.  The  possible  increase  of 
plants  was  already  put  under  the  severest  limitations  by  natural  condi- 
tions. In  short,  the  world  was  as  full  of  plants  as  it  could  hold  when 
man  appeared.  All  that  man  could  do  was  to  avail  himself  of  those  plants 
which  existed  of  an  edible  sort,  or  else  to  substitute  edible  for  non-edible 
plants,  or,  finally,  to  use  his  growing  intelligence  in  improving  the  edibil- 
ity and  yield  of  various  species  of  plants.  All  of  these  methods  partake 
of  the  nature  of  addition,  and  man  has  gone  on  adding  to  his  food  supply 
down  to  the  present  time.  The  second  consideration  is  that  in  all  this 
discussion  of  population  we  automatically  take  an  anthropocentric  point 
of  view.  Man  is  regarded  as  the  center  of  creation,  and  all  other  species 
as  materials  for  his  needs.  Hence,  his  tendency  to  increase  is  regarded  as 
the  only  one  worthy  of  consideration.  In  order  to  make  this  clear,  imag- 
ine a  primitive  group  of  men  subsisting  almost  entirely  upon  reindeer, 
which  in  turn  live  upon  moss.  We  could  say,  then,  that  the  tendency  of 
moss  is  to  increase  at  a  geometrical  ratio,  but  that  it  is  checked  by  the 
natural  conditions  of  soil  and  climate ;  the  tendency  of  reindeer  is  to  in- 
crease at  a  geometrical  ratio,  but  it  is  checked  by  the  increase  of  moss ; 
and  that  the  tendency  of  man  is  to  increase  at  a  geometrical  ratio,  but 
that  it  is  checked  by  the  increase  of  reindeer.  Suppose  further  that  the 
same  region  was  inhabited  by  a  species  of  cave  bear  which  fed  principally 
upon  human  beings.  The  cave  bear  philosopher  would  be  perfectly  justi- 
fied in  saying  that  the  tendency  of  cave  bears  is  to  increase  at  a  geometri- 
cal ratio,  but  it  is  checked  by  the  possibility  of  increasing  the  human 
species,  which  cannot  be  expected  to  grow  at  more  than  an  arithmetical 
ratio. 


204  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

the  latter  vastly  exceeds  the  former  at  the  start.  Con- 
sequently, there  is  no  possibility  that,  over  long  periods 
of  time,  man  can  increase  his  food  supply  rapidly  enough 
to  realize  his  own  maximum  potentialities  of  increase. 
At  the  time  when  Malthus  wrote,  there  was  very  little 
margin  of  food  supply  over  the  needs  of  the  common 
people.  Suppose,  he  said,  that  during  the  next  twenty 
years  the  amount  of  food  could  be  increased  by  an 
amount  equal  to  that  now  produced.  During  those  two 
decades,  then,  population  could  double  with  no  loss  in 
comfort.  But  during  the  next  twenty  years,  the  incre- 
ment in  food  would  be  the  same  as  before,  while  the 
possible  increase  in  population  would  be  double  the  pre- 
vious increase.  The  proportions  at  the  three  periods 
would  be  i :  i,  2  :  2,  3  :  4. 

If  there  were  no  impulse  driving  man  to  increase  as 
nearly  at  the  maximum  rate  as  possible,  the  growth  of 
population  might  adapt  itself  to  the  increase  of  food, 
and  there  need  be  no  hardship.  The  fact  is,  however, 
that  the  reproductive  instinct  is  a  very  powerful  force, 
apparently  just  as  strong  now  as  at  any  previous  period 
in  man's  history,  impelling  human  beings  to  increase 
up  to  the  maximum  limit  set  by  their  conditions.  Con- 
sequently there  arises  a  pressure  of  population  upon  sub- 
sistence, and  the  food  supply  appears  as  an  insuperable 
barrier,  constantly  restraining  population  within  fixed 
limits.  Whenever  the  food  supply  is  increased,  the  rate 
of  growth  of  population  at  once  accelerates  correspond- 
ingly, so  that  there  is  no  more  food  per  capita  than  be- 
fore. It  is  this  fact  which  puts  all  Utopias  into  the 
class  of  unattainable  dreams. 

Since  subsistence  thus  sets  the  limit  upon  the  growth 
of  population,  there  must  be  some  specific  means  by 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  POPULATION  GROWTH    205 

which  this  restraint  is  effected.  Malthus  enumerated 
these  means  under  the  head  of  what  he  designated  as 
checks.  These  checks  are  of  two  sorts,  positive  and 
preventive.  The  positive  checks  are  those  which  in- 
crease the  death  rate,  such  as  war,  pestilence,  famine, 
disease,  vice,  etc.  The  preventive  checks  are  those 
which  decrease  the  birth  rate,  such  as  celibacy,  de- 
ferred marriage,  and  also  vice.  Both  of  these  sorts  of 
checks  involve  misery,  but  the  former  much  greater 
misery  than  the  latter.  Positive  checks,  however,  will 
inevitably  come  into  operation  unless  men  utilize  the 
preventive  checks.  As  long  as  the  need  of  food  re- 
mains, and  the  instinct  of  reproduction  persists,  the  life 
of  man  is  bound  to  be  marred  by  suffering.  It  is  for 
man  to  choose  whether  it  shall  be  the  extreme  suffering 
involved  in  the  positive  checks,  or  the  moderate  suffer- 
ing necessitated  by  the  preventive  checks. 

Every  society  in  time  strikes  a  balance  between  these 
forces,  and  settles  upon  a  general  per  capita  amount 
of  subsistence  which  is  regarded  as  normal  in  that 
society.  This  constitutes  the  standard  of  living,  which 
comes  to  have  immense  inertia,  and  to  operate  as  one 
of  the  constant  factors  in  the  problem  of  population. 
If  improved  economic  conditions  offer  a  society  the 
opportunity  either  of  increasing  its  population  or 
raising  its  standard  of  living,  the  chance  is  usually 
seized  by  the  principle  of  population ;  numbers  in- 
crease with  no  appreciable  improvement  in  the  stand- 
ard. If,  on  the  other  hand,  adverse  conditions 
demand  retrenchment  somewhere,  means  are  generally 
found  to  dimmish  the  rate  of  growth  of  popula- 
tion, while  the  standard  of  living  remains  about  the 
same.  Exceptions  to  the  foregoing  rule  are  furnished 


206  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

by  cases  of  very  profound  and  sudden  change.  If  such 
changes  are  of  sufficient  extent,  the  opportunities  they 
offer,  or  the  losses  they  necessitate,  will  be  too  great  to 
be  offset  by  immediate  changes  hi  the  rate  of  growth 
of  population.  Then  there  will  occur  positive  improve- 
ment or  deterioration,  respectively,  in  the  standard  of 
living. 

The  most  remarkable  case  recorded  in  history  of  an 
extensive  and  sudden  opportunity  offered  to  the  human 
race  is  that  of  the  combination  of  the  discovery  of 
America  and  the  Industrial  Revolution.  These  two  cir- 
cumstances, together,  offered  a  chance  for  improvement 
to  the  nations  of  western  civilization  such  as  had  never 
been  known  before.  The  opportunity  was  too  great 
to  be  completely  absorbed  by  an  increase  in  the  rate  of 
growth  of  population.  Such  an  increase,  indeed,  took 
place,  and  the  population  of  the  western  world  multi- 
plied at  a  rate  unparalleled  within  recorded  history. 
Nevertheless  a  portion  of  the  newly  acquired  means  of 
subsistence  still  remained,  and  afforded  the  ground  for 
the  noteworthy  rise  in  the  standard  of  living  of  western 
nations  which  marked  the  nineteenth  century.  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that,  if  the  men  of  the  eighteenth 
and  nineteenth  centuries  had  possessed  sufficient  knowl- 
edge and  control  of  social  forces  to  restrict  the  growth 
of  population  in  the  most  advantageous  way,  the  tre- 
mendous opportunity  in  question  might  have  been  made 
to  yield  much  more  gain  in  the  standard  of  living  than 
has  actually  occurred.  Such  a  condition  was,  of  course, 
quite  impossible,  and  we  of  the  twentieth  century  have 
reason  to  congratulate  ourselves  that  as  much  advance 
in  the  standard  of  living  was  achieved  as  we  are  en- 
joying. 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  POPULATION  GROWTH     207 

Two  great  factors  which  condition  the  growth  of 
population,  as  has  just  been  shown,  are  land  and  the 
standard  of  living.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  considerable 
increase  in  population  has  ever  been  accounted  for  by 
a  decline  in  the  general  standard  of  living,  so  that,  as 
far  as  these  two  factors  are  concerned,  the  increase  in 
the  numbers  of  the  human  species  since  its  origin  has 
been  made  possible  by  an  extension  of  human  control 
over  new  areas  of  land.  There  remains,  however,  a 
third  factor,  which,  at  the  present  time  at  least,  is  by 
far  the  most  important  means  by  which  the  growth  of 
population  is  achieved  without  a  lowering  —  often  with 
an  actual  improvement  —  of  the  standard  of  living. 
This  factor  is  man's  mastery  of  the  forces  of  nature,  by 
which  the  native  resources  of  the  earth  are  made  to 
yield  ever  more  and  greater  utilities  for  man's  enjoy- 
ment. The  history  of  civilization  has  been  a  history  of 
the  steady  increase  in  the  number  of  human  beings 
who  could  be  supported  on  a  given  area  of  the  earth's 
surface,  because  of  the  greater  efficiency  with  which 
man  has  been  able  to  utilize  the  materials  of  nature. 
The  degree  of  success  which  any  society  has  achieved 
in  this  process  is  commonly  designated  as  "the  stage  of 
the  arts."  The  Malthusian  theory  is  therefore  com- 
monly summed  up  in  the  sentence:  "Population  tends 
to  increase  up  to  the  supporting  power  of  the  environ- 
ment on  a  given  standard  of  living  and  a  given  stage 
of  the  arts." 

Modifications  in  the  Malthusian  theory.  Some  few 
modifications  in  the  statement  of  the  Malthusian  theory 
(which  do  not,  however,  affect  any  of  the  principles  in- 
volved) have  been  necessitated  by  the  social  changes  of 
the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  centuries.  Among  these 


208  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

modifications  is  the  recognition  of  what  are  called  the 
"institutional"  checks  upon  the  growth  of  population, 
such  as  the  education  and  general  emancipation  of 
woman,  the  demands  of  life  in  "society,"  the  extended 
period  of  male  education,  etc.  Much  more  significant, 
however,  is  the  increased  importance  accorded  to  vol- 
untary post-marital  limitation  of  births.  Mai  thus  paid 
relatively  little  attention  to  this  factor.  His  practical 
advice  was  mainly  limited  to  counseling  young  people, 
especially  young  men,  to  wait  about  getting  married 
until  they  were  sure  that  they  were  prepared  properly 
to  support  whatever  family  might  come.  Malthus,  like 
most  people  of  his  day,  considered  that  the  size  of  the 
family,  after  marriage,  was  a  matter  for  which  responsi- 
bility rested  with  the  Lord. 

Neo-Malthusianism.  It  was  not  long  after  the  promul- 
gation of  Malthus's  doctrines,  however,  before  people 
began  to  make  an  application  of  them  which  he  had  not 
anticipated,  and  probably  would  have  deprecated.  The 
line  of  argument  was  that  inasmuch  as  celibacy  or  long- 
deferred  marriage  was  a  cause  of  misery,  it  would  add 
a  great  deal  to  the  total  amount  of  happiness  if  "pruden- 
tial restraint"  were  exercised,  not  in  deferring  marriage, 
but  in  delaying  the  appearance  of  children  after  mar- 
riage. It  was  claimed  that  much  vice  and  immorality 
would  also  be  obviated  in  this  way.  All  that  was  needed 
was  to  spread  broadcast  knowledge  of  the  means  of  pre- 
venting conception,  knowledge  which  could  readily  be 
secured  from  France.  Once  let  this  information  become 
general,  and  young  people  could  then  avail  themselves 
of  all  the  pleasures  of  married  life,  except  the  enjoyment 
of  children,  without  adding  anything  to  the  undue  pres- 
sure of  population  upon  subsistence.  These  ideas  were 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  POPULATION  GROWTH     209 

perfectly  logical,  and  societies  were  at  once  formed  for 
their  promulgation,  and  numerous  tracts  and  booklets 
began  to  be  circulated,  purporting  to  furnish  complete 
moral  justification  for  the  plan  advocated,  and  giving 
detailed  descriptions  of  various  methods  of  preventing 
conception.  Of  course  this  movement  aroused  a  storm 
of  opposition,  and  the  doctrines,  which  came  to  be 
called  "Neo-Malthusianism,"  were  bitterly  attacked 
from  many  quarters,  particularly  the  religious.  Never- 
theless, the  ideas  embodied  in  Neo-Malthusianism  made 
a  strong  appeal  to  those  intelligent  enough  to  grasp 
them,  and  the  dissemination  of  these  doctrines  has  con- 
tinued down  to  the  present  day.  While  there  is  no  way 
of  knowing  exactly  how  widely  voluntary  restriction  of 
births,  by  one  means  or  another,  is  practiced  in  modern 
families,  the  prevailing  opinion  is  that  it  is  almost  uni- 
versal in  the  upper  walks  of  life,  and  is  rapidly  spreading 
throughout  the  lower  strata  of  society.  Certainly  Neo- 
Malthusian  practices  constitute  a  very  powerful  and 
important  addition  to  the  preventive  checks  enumerated 
by  Malthus. 

The  four  factors  of  social  progress.  As  has  been  ob- 
served above,  human  progress  is  largely  the  product  of 
the  operation  of  the  four  great  factors :  population,  land, 
standard  of  living,  and  stage  of  the  arts.  The  inter- 
play of  influence  among  these  four  factors  is  so  com- 
plete that  any  one  may  be  considered  as  a  resultant  of 
the  other  three.  If  the  standard  of  living  is  under 
discussion,  population,  land,  and  the  stage  of  the  arts 
are  regarded  as  determining  factors ;  if  the  question  up- 
permost is  population,  then  the  other  three  are  con- 
sidered as  causes.  The  justification  for  regarding  land, 
and  the  stage  of  the  arts,  as  results  of  the  other  three 


210  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

factors,  respectively,  is  less  obvious;  yet  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  arts  progress  only  on  the  basis  of  a  fa- 
vorable conjuncture  of  population,  land,  and  standard 
of  living,  while  the  amount  of  land  available  to  human 
society  is  also  determined  by  population,  standard  of 
living,  and  the  stage  of  the  arts.  The  greatest  single 
addition  ever  made  to  the  land  utilized  by  Occidental 
society  was  the  discovery  of  America.  This  achieve- 
ment resulted  from  a  growing  pressure  of  population  in 
Europe,  the  development  of  the  arts  of  navigation,  food 
preservation,  etc.,  and  an  existing  standard  of  living 
high  enough  to  provide  the  necessary  equipment  for  the 
expedition. 

The  antagonism  between  population  and  the  standard  of 
living.  From  the  point  of  view  of  practical  social 
policy,  however,  the  problem  virtually  resolves  itself  into 
the  question  as  to  whether  emphasis  is  to  be  laid  on 
population,  or  on  the  standard  of  living.  As  far  as  land 
is  concerned,  there  is  little  prospect  of  any  further  ma- 
terial increases;  the  gains  made  by  drainage,  irriga- 
tion, etc.,  are  relatively  negligible ;  such  gains,  more- 
over, are  logically  to  be  credited  to  the  industrial  arts, 
not  to  increase  in  land.  The  stage  of  the  arts,  on  the 
other  hand,  offers  unlimited  possibilities  of  advance, 
and  demands  every  possible  support  and  assistance. 
The  gains  made  in  land,  and  in  the  stage  of  the  arts, 
however,  are  both  positive,  and  are  not  won  at  the 
expense  of  loss  anywhere  else.  But  between  population 
and  the  standard  of  living  there  is  a  natural  and  in- 
eradicable antagonism.  Other  things  being  equal,  popu- 
lation can  be  increased  only  by  lowering  the  standard 
of  living,  and  the  standard  of  living  can  be  raised  only 
at  the  expense  of  population.  The  single  general 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  POPULATION  GROWTH     211 

exception  to  this  rule  is  furnished  by  the  case  of  new 
societies,  composed  of  small  groups  of  people  with  an 
advanced  mastery  of  the  industrial  arts,  set  down  in  a 
thinly  populated,  or  uninhabited,  and  undeveloped  en- 
vironment. Then,  for  a  time,  increases  in  population 
are  a  positive  advantage,  and  raise  the  general  standard 
of  living,  because  they  make  possible  a  better  organ- 
ization of  production,  and  a  fuller  utilization  of  technical 
knowledge  and  ability.  A  familiar  example,  on  a  large 
scale,  is  furnished  by  the  early  history  of  the  Thirteen 
American  Colonies.  Similar  conditions  prevail  in  all 
typical  temperate  zone  colonies.  During  the  early  de- 
velopment of  such  a  society,  accessions  of  population 
are  eagerly  sought,  and  are  naturally  and  correctly  re- 
garded as  of  great  value. 

Under  population  and  overpopulation.  A  society,  the 
population  of  which  is  so  sparse  as  to  preclude  the  full- 
est utilization  of  its  knowledge  of  the  industrial  arts 
in  the  achievement  of  a  standard  of  living,  may  be  said 
to  be  underpopulated;  a  society  with  a  population  so 
dense,  relative  to  its  stage  of  the  arts,  that  the  land  can- 
not be  made  to  yield  its  maximum  per  capita  return  is 
overpopulated.  The  dividing  line,  then,  between  un- 
derpopulation  and  overpopulation  is  determined  by  the 
question  whether  an  increase  in  population,  other  things 
being  equal,  will  result  in  a  raising  or  a  lowering  of  the 
general  standard  of  living.  This  line  exists  in  every 
society,  though  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  discern  with 
exactness,  in  the  present  state  of  knowledge  of  social 
laws.  In  fact,  the  existence  of  such  a  line  is  not  uni- 
versally recognized.  With  reference  to  individual  fami- 
lies, it  is  easy  to  see  that  an  increase  in  the  size  of  the 
family  means  a  lesser  degree  of  comfort  for  each  member ; 


212  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

modern  parents  consciously  strike  a  balance  between 
their  desire  for  numerous  children  and  their  desire  for 
well-nurtured  children.  But  hi  the  case  of  societies,  the 
line  of  division  is  often  obscured  by  the  common  process 
of  reasoning  that  men  make  wealth,  and  that  therefore 
the  more  men  there  are,  the  more  wealth  there  will  be. 
It  is  forgotten  that  men  make  wealth  from  the  land,  in 
the  final  analysis,  and  also,  that  more  wealth  does  not 
necessarily  mean  more  wealth  per  capita,  i.e.  a  higher 
standard  of  living. 

The  present  inadequacy  of  social  science  to  meet  the 
practical  demands  of  modern  societies  could  hardly  be 
better  illustrated  than  by  the  fact  that  it  is  impossible  to 
answer  one  of  the  most  vital  questions  which  any  so- 
ciety can  ask,  viz.  whether  it  is  underpopulated  or 
overpopulated.  A  flood  of  light,  for  instance,  would 
be  thrown  upon  the  question  of  immigration  in  the 
United  States  by  a  decision  of  the  question  whether 
this  country  is  underpopulated  or  not.  The  difficulty  of 
arriving  at  a  correct  solution  of  the  question  of  over- 
population is  augmented  by  the  fact  that  there  are  often 
powerful,  though  small,  classes  whose  class  standard  of 
living  is  undoubtedly  raised  by  an  increase  in  numbers, 
even  though  the  standard  of  the  society  as  a  whole  is 
depreciated  thereby.  Thus  the  class  of  capitalist  em- 
ployers in  the  United  States  is  led  by  self-interest  to 
resist  all  efforts  to  restrict  the  numbers  of  unskilled  im- 
migrants, whatever  the  effects  of  free  immigration  may 
be  upon  the  country  as  a  whole. 

One  of  the  greatest  practical  services  which  social 
science  can  conceivably  render  to  mankind  is  to  devise 
means  of  determining  whether  any  given  society  is  in 
a  state  of  underpopulation  or  overpopulation,  to  dis- 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  POPULATION  GROWTH     213 

cover  effective  and  unobjectionable  methods  of  control- 
ling the  growth  of  population,  and  to  break  down  the 
barriers  of  tradition,  superstition,  and  self-indulgence 
which  stand  in  the  way  of  putting  these  methods  of  con- 
trol into  practical  effect. 

Birth  rates  and  death  rates.  It  has  already  been  indi- 
cated that  there  are  two  immediate  factors  involved  in 
the  growth  of  population,  a  change  in  either  one  of  which 
will  affect  the  rate  of  growth.  These  factors  are  births 
and  deaths.  It  is  a  common  fallacy  to  speak  of  growth 
of  population  as  if  it  were  determined  solely  by  the 
number  of  births.  Until  very  recent  years,  in  carrying 
out  the  prevailing  policy  of  a  rapid  increase,  almost  the 
entire  emphasis  was  laid  on  the  encouragement  of  births. 
Now  we  have  begun  to  realize  that  a  wiser  principle  is  to 
seek  to  limit  the  number  of  deaths.  It  is  obvious  that  the 
increase  in  population  in  any  society  (ignoring,  for  the 
present,  the  question  of  population  movements)  in  a  given 
year  is  mathematically  determined  by  the  excess  of  births 
over  deaths  in  that  year.  If  deaths  exceed  births,  there 
will  be  a  decrease  in  population.  The  rate  of  growth  of 
population  is  the  proportion  between  this  excess  of  births 
over  deaths  and  the  entire  population. 

In  order  to  simplify  and  make  accurate  the  considera- 
tion of  questions  of  population,  the  expedient  of  birth 
rates  and  death  rates  has  been  adopted.  These  rates 
express  the  proportion  between  births  and  deaths  and 
the  total  population.  There  are  various  ways  of  reck- 
oning these  rates,  but  for  most  practical  purposes  the 
"  crude  "  rates,  based  on  the  total  population,  are  satis- 
factory. Crude  rates  are  usually  expressed  on  the  basis 
of  an  average  thousand.  Thus  a  society  which  numbered 
one  million  members,  in  which  25,000  persons  were  born  in 


214  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

a  year,  would  be  said  to  have  a  birth  rate  of  25.  Corre- 
spondingly, if  there  were  17,000  deaths  in  the  same  society, 
the  death  rate  would  be  1 7 .  Evidently  the  rate  of  growth 
of  population  may  be  readily  secured  by  subtracting  the 
death  rate  from  the  birth  rate.  In  the  above  case  the 
rate  of  growth  of  population  would  be  8. 

Rate  of  growth  of  population.  It  at  once  becomes  clear 
that  a  given  rate  of  growth  of  population  may  be  the 
result  of  a  wide  variety  of  combinations  of  birth  and 
death  rates.  A  rate  of  8  may  be  produced  by  birth 
and  death  rates  such  as  cited  above;  or  it  may  result 
from  a  birth  rate  of  18  and  a  death  rate  of  10,  or  from 
a  birth  rate  of  40  and  a  death  rate  of  32.  If  the  only 
consideration  were  the  mathematical  increase  of  popu- 
lation, it  would  make  no  difference  what  the  combination 
was  which  resulted  in  a  certain  rate  of  growth.  But 
since  the  question  is  not  one  of  abstract  mathematical 
quantities,  but  of  men  and  women,  it  evidently  makes 
the  greatest  possible  difference  by  what  combination  of 
birth  and  death  rates  a  given  rate  of  growth  is  achieved. 
Both  births  and  deaths  are  a  tax  upon  the  community, 
a  cause  of  expense,  and  of  more  or  less  physical  and 
mental  suffering.  It  is  therefore  a  general  principle 
that  the  smaller  the  rates  of  births  and  deaths  by  which 
a  given  rate  of  growth  is  produced,  the  more  satisfactory 
are  the  social  conditions.  It  is  an  unfailing  rule  that  a 
society  which  can  maintain  a  rapid  growth  in  popula- 
tion only  by  offsetting  a  high  death  rate  by  an  enormous 
birth  rate  is  in  a  degraded  condition,  and  will  be  found 
to  be  characterized  by  misery,  poverty,  and  general  dis- 
tress. It  follows  that  a  society  which  wishes  to  in- 
crease its  rate  of  growth  of  population  should  turn  its 
attention  to  the  reduction  of  the  death  rate,  rather  than 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  POPULATION  GROWTH     215 


the  acceleration  of  the  birth  rate ;  while  it  goes  without 
saying  that  a  society  which  wishes  to  decrease  its  rate 
of  growth  must  consider  means  of  limiting  the  number 
of  births  rather  than  increasing  the  number  of  deaths. 

The  nineteenth  century,  particularly  in  its  closing 
decades,  witnessed  a  tremendous  decline  in  the  birth 
rate*  of  practically  all  the  countries  of  western  civilization 
such  as  to  constitute  one  of  the  great  social  phenomena 
of  modern  times.  But  so  great  was  the  decline  in  the 
death  rate  during  the  same  period  that  the  rate  of  growth 
of  population  was  vastly  in  excess  of  anything  which  had 
ever  been  known  before.  The  following  estimates  of  the 
population  of  seven  of  the  leading  countries  of  Europe 
(England,  France,  Prussia,  Russia,  Austria,  Italy,  and 
Spain)  at  intervals  of  one  hundred  years  will  illustrate 
this  fact : 90 

YEAR  POPULATION 

1480  46,700,000 

1580  59,250,000 

1680  73,032,000 

1780  109,881,000 

1880  285,134,000 

The  population  of  these  countries  in  1911  was  about 
325,000,000.  Yet  the  birth  rates  of  most  of  these 
countries  show  a  notable  decline  during  the  last  one 
hundred  years,  as  the  following  figures  will  indicate : 91 


COUNTRY 

AVERAGE  BIRTH  RATE 
FOR  PERIOD  1821-40 

BIRTH  RATE  FOR  1900 

France  

20.7 

21.4 

England  

33.4.  (184.1—60) 

28.7  (including  Wales) 

Prussia     

41.0 

36.1 

Russia      

AA.6 

47.1  (1806) 

Austria    

2Q.C 

39.O    (1896) 

Italy  

37.2  (1861-80) 

32.O 

Spain  

37.1  (i  861-80) 

•3  A.  A 

*  Often  attributed,  in  part  at  least,  to  the  Neo-Malthusian  propaganda. 


2l6 


APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 


The  decline  in  the  death  rates  which  has  made  possible 
so  great  an  increase  in  population  in  the  face  of  the 
diminished  birth  rates  is  indicated  by  the  following 
figures : 92 


COUNTRY 

AVERAGE  DEATH  RATE 
FOR  PERIOD  1861-70 

DEATH  RATE  FOR  1908 

France    

22.  Q 

IQ.O 

England       

22.6 

14.7 

Austria  

30.4 

22.6  (1907) 

Italy  
Spain      

30.1 

29.7  (1871—80) 

20.7  (1907) 

23.  * 

Germany     

27.1  (1871-80) 

18.0  (1907) 

Russia  (European)     .... 

31.2  (1901-03) 

As  would  be  expected,  the  countries  which  show  a  high 
birth  rate  in  modern  years  are  the  most  backward 
as  regards  social  conditions,  as,  for  example,  Hungary, 
39.3;  Roumania,  40.0;  Servia,  42.2;  Bulgaria,  38.4. 
These  same  countries  show  a  correspondingly  high  death 
rate,  as,  for  example,  Hungary,  24.8 ;  Roumania,  27.7 ; 
Russia,  31.2. 

Population  movements.  It  has  already  been  suggested 
that  there  is  a  further  factor  to  be  taken  into  consider- 
ation in  the  matter  of  the  growth  of  population,  viz. 
the  shifting  of  population  from  one  place  to  another. 
This  factor  does  not  directly  affect  the  rate  of  growth 
of  mankind  as  a  whole,  which  is  determined  solely  by 
the  relation  between  births  and  deaths,*  but  it  may  very 
seriously  affect  the  growth  of  population  in  any  society. 
Population  movements,  of  one  type  or  another,  are  as 
old  as  the  human  species.  One  of  the  things  which  dis- 
tinguish man  from  the  other  animals  is  his  ability  to 

*  Of  course  population  movements  indirectly  affect  the  rate  of  growth 
of  population  by  influencing  the  number  of  births  and  deaths. 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  POPULATION  GROWTH     217 

make  radical  changes  in  habitat  in  a  short  time.  Hu- 
man history  is  largely  the  history  of  movements  of 
people  from  one  place  to  another,  with  the  resulting 
conflicts  and  adjustments. 

At  first  thought  it  might  seem  that  the  effect  of  popu- 
lation movements  on  the  societies  concerned  might  be 
very  readily  determined  by  a  simple  process  of  sub- 
traction and  addition.  If  1000  people  leave  one  society 
and  go  to  another  society,  it  is  evident  that  the  popu- 
lation of  the  former  society  is  diminished  by  the  number 
of  1000  and  the  population  of  the  latter  society  is  in- 
creased by  just  so  many.  This  is,  indeed,  the  immediate 
effect.  But  if  a  period  of  time  is  taken  into  consider- 
ation, the  effects  are  found  to  be  different  from,  and  in 
fact  almost  contrary  to,  the  immediate  effects.  It  has 
been  demonstrated  over  and  over  again  that  a  steady, 
moderate  emigration  from  a  country  does  not  diminish 
its  population,  but  may  even  increase  it,  while  a  regular 
immigration  into  a  country  does  not  increase  its  popu- 
lation and  may  actually  diminish  it.  This  seeming  par- 
adox is  easily  understood  by  reference  to  the  Malthusian 
principles  of  population.  If  it  is  borne  in  mind  that 
every  society  reaches  a  balance  between  the  various  fac- 
tors that  determine  population,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
removal  of  a  certain  number  of  people  simply  lightens 
the  pressure  of  population  upon  subsistence  temporarily. 
The  forces  of  reproduction,  always  under  repression,  at 
once  respond  to  the  new  condition ;  either  births  are  in- 
creased or  deaths  are  diminished,  and  the  size  of  the 
population  remains  practically  the  same.  In  fact,  it 
has  been  asserted  by  some  that  the  sense  of  easement 
which  is  afforded  by  the  knowledge  of  the  possibility  of 
emigration  serves  to  increase  the  birth  rate  even  beyond 


218  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

the  extent  correlative  to  the  emigration,  so  that  popu- 
lation increases  faster  than  it  would  without  any  emi- 
gration at  all.  Conversely,  immigration  into  a  country 
simply  increases  the  pressure  already  limiting  the  growth 
of  population,  and  causes  the  checks,  both  preventive 
and  positive,  to  operate  more  strictly  than  before.  If 
the  immigrant  population  is  of  a  lower  type  than  the 
native  population,  socially  or  economically,  the  result 
may  be  an  actual  decrease  in  the  rate  of  growth  of 
population. 

Exceptions  to  the  general  rule  just  enunciated  are 
furnished  by  cases  where  the  migration  from  a  coun- 
try is  so  sudden  and  so  extensive  that  it  exceeds  the 
capacity  of  the  reproductive  forces  to  offset.  Then, 
during  the  period  while  population  is  catching  up,  there 
may  be  a  distinct  rise  in  the  standard  of  living,  so  that 
when  a  balance  is  struck  again,  it  is  on  a  higher  plane  of 
existence  than  before.  Also,  a  country  which  is  defi- 
nitely underpopulated,  so  that  the  Malthusian  checks 
are  virtually  inoperative,  may  theoretically  suffer  a  reduc- 
tion of  population  by  emigration,  though  such  a  thing 
seldom  happens  in  real  life.  On  the  other  hand,  im- 
migration into  an  underpopulated  country  may  increase 
the  rate  of  growth  of  population,  while  even  in  an  over- 
populated  country  there  may  be  such  a  sudden  and 
enormous  influx  as  to  overtax  the  elasticity  of  the  re- 
productive forces,  and  cause  a  temporary  increase  in 
population  with  a  consequent  decline  in  the  standard  of 
living. 

Essentials  of  a  population  policy.  The  foregoing 
simple  facts  furnish  the  basis  upon  which  any  society 
must  rest  its  conscious  population  policy.  The  first 
point  to  be  settled  is  the  rate  of  growth  of  population 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  POPULATION  GROWTH     219 

which  is  desired.  In  this  connection  the  thing  most  likely 
to  be  forgotten,  and  most  necessary  to  be  remembered, 
is  that  every  society,  unless  definitely  underpopulated, 
must  make  choice,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  be- 
tween population  and  the  standard  of  living.  There  is 
rio  doubt  that  invention  and  discovery  will  continue  to 
offer  opportunities  of  progress  to  modern  societies.  It  is 
for  each  society  to  determine  to  what  extent  this  prog- 
ress shall  take  the  form  of  an  increased  population  or 
of  an  improved  standard  of  living.  Having  settled 
these  questions,  societies  must  recognize  that  limitation 
of  deaths  is  vastly  preferable,  as  a  means  of  promoting 
the  growth  of  population,  to  increase  of  births,  and, 
finally,  that  emigration  and  immigration  are  most  il- 
lusive and  disappointing  expedients  for  controlling 
population. 


CHAPTER  XII 

MARRIAGE  AND  THE   FAMILY 

The  origin  of  marriage  and  the  family.  The  two  chief 
social  institutions  which  have  arisen  in  connection  with 
the  growth  of  population  are  marriage  and  the  family. 
As  to  the  early  history  of  these  institutions,  pure  sociology 
has,  as  yet,  given  no  unequivocal  answer.  It  has  not 
been  definitely  decided  whether  marriage  grew  out  of 
the  family,  or  the  family  out  of  marriage.  While  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe  that  families,  even  of  the 
monogamous  type,  existed  long  before  the  processes  of 
evolution  produced  the  human  species,  and  that  there- 
fore marriage,  as  a  human  institution,  must  have  been 
antedated  by  the  family,  yet  there  is  also  evidence  in 
support  of  the  view  that  the  earliest  human  marriages 
were  instituted  on  the  basis  of  economic  interests  rather 
than  of  sexual  interests,  and  that  accordingly  the  family, 
as  a  social  unit,  grew  out  of  marriage. 

These  questions,  however,  concern  applied  sociology 
but  little.  Whatever  the  origin  of  marriage  and  the 
family,  the  existence  of  these  great  institutions  goes 
back  so  far  in  the  evolution  of  culture  as  to  make  ques- 
tions of  origin  a  matter  for  pure  sociology.  Every 
society  with  any  degree  of  civilization  recognizes 
marriage  as  the  basis  of  the  family,  and  places  about 
marriage  some  form  of  social  sanction  and  social  control. 
So  closely  have  these  institutions  become  intertwined 


MARRIAGE  AND  THE  FAMILY  221 

that  for  practical  purposes  they  may  almost  be  regarded 
as  one  institution. 

Social  control.  As  already  suggested,  the  importance 
of  the  interests  connected  with  the  growth  of  population 
has  led  all  societies  to  throw  some  form  of  social  sanc- 
tion about  marriage,  and  to  exert  some  sort  of  control 
over  it  and  the  family.  The  nature  of  this  sanction  and 
control  varies ;  at  times  it  is  predominantly  religious, 
at  other  times  it  is  legal;  in  some  cases  it  is  merely 
a  matter  of  tradition,  custom,  or  public  opinion.  But 
sanction  and  control  of  some  sort  are  never  absent.  In 
fact  the  family,  rather  than  the  individual,  is  quite 
generally  recognized  as  the  unit  of  the  social  organization. 

Characteristic  features  of  modern  marriage  and  family. 
It  follows  that  the  types  of  marriage  and  the  family 
which  prevail  in  modern  countries  will  have  the  most 
profound  influence  in  shaping  the  social  forms  and 
usages  of  those  societies. 

As  regards  marriage,  the  first  point  to  be  noted  is  that 
in  most  of  the  countries  of  western  civilization  mar- 
riage at  the  present  time  is  regarded  as  primarily  a  civil 
contract.  Yet  the  notion  that  it  also  has  a  profound 
religious  significance  is  very  tenacious,  and  very  gener- 
erally  some  religious  confirmation  is  sought,'  even  in 
countries  where  a  civil  ceremony  is  wholly  adequate. 
In  general,  however,  it  is  the  state,  rather  than  the  re- 
ligious organization,  which  is  considered  to  be  the  guard- 
ian of  the  responsibilities  incurred  and  the  guarantor  of 
the  rights  conferred.  It  is  to  the  state  that  appeal  must 
be  had  in  case  readjustments  become  necessary. 

Both  marriage  and  the  family  exhibit  much  less 
marked  changes  in  mores  during  the  past  few  centuries 
than  does  the  economic  organization.  Monogamy,  es- 


222  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

tablished  long  ago  in  western  nations  as  the  normal 
type,  still  prevails.  It  is  so  thoroughly  established  as 
to  be  regarded  by  many  as  the  form  of  union  approved 
by  Nature  herself.  There  are  no  noteworthy  indica- 
tions of  any  impending  change  in  this  feature  of  the 
mores.  Likewise,  the  principle  of  male  responsibility 
still  maintains  itself  both  in  marriage  and  the  family. 
This  responsibility  is  both  social  and  legal.  It  is  cus- 
tomarily expected  that  the  male  partner  will  take  the 
lead  in  most  of  the  steps  involved  in  forming  and  main- 
taining a  family.  It  is  assumed  that  the  original  pro- 
posal of  marriage  will  come  from  him.  If  the  proposal 
is  accepted,  upon  the  man  is  laid  the  social  burden  of 
providing  a  shelter  for  the  new  family.  When  the 
married  state  has  been  entered  into,  the  entire  legal 
and  social  obligation  to  make  financial  provision  for  the 
needs  of  the  family  rests  upon  the  husband.  The  wife 
has  her  recognized  duties  —  reduced,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, to  a  minimum  in  the  well-to-do  families  of  modern 
societies  —  but  they  do  not  include  the  securing  of  the 
means  of  maintenance.  Very  commonly,  the  wife  has 
the  right  to  sue  for  non-support  in  case  the  husband  does 
not  provide  reasonably  for  herself  and  the  children.  In 
many  other  matters,  connected  with  property,  etc.,  the 
husband  is  legally  and  socially  considered  the  head  of 
the  family.  While  there  are  innumerable  exceptions  to 
this  principle,  in  all  of  its  different  aspects,  yet  they  are 
always  regarded  as  somewhat  out  of  the  ordinary. 

It  is  true  that  many  noteworthy  changes  have  taken 
place,  within  recent  years,  in  the  mores  of  self-per- 
petuation, mostly  in  the  direction  of  according  more 
recognition  to  woman  as  a  person.  But  these  changes 
still  fall  far  short  of  putting  man  and  woman  on  a  plane 


MARRIAGE  AND  THE  FAMILY  223 

of  perfect  equality  in  respect  to  the  duties,  rights,  and 
obligations  of  married  life.  Professor  Sumner's  con- 
cept of  "pair  marriage"  is  yet  to  be  realized. 

Changes  in  the  Junction  of  the  family.  In  the  family, 
particularly,  some  very  significant  changes  are  to  be 
noted  in  recent  generations.  These  changes  have  to  do 
less  with  the  form  than  with  the  function  of  the  family. 
The  typical  family  of  a  few  centuries  ago  was  not  only 
a  social,  but  an  economic,  unit.  The  father  carried  on 
his  day's  toil  under  his  own  roof,  surrounded  by  his  own 
children  as  helpers,  and  with  the  mother  ever  at  hand. 
Each  member  of  the  family,  except  mere  infants,  had  his 
part  in  the  production  carried  on  there.  In  fact,  the 
medieval  family  was  the  center  of  most  of  the  activities 
of  all  of  its  members,  and  the  home  was  the  place  where 
most  of  their  time  was  spent.  Recreation  and  religion 
enlisted  the  participation  of  the  family  as  a  whole, 
within  the  home,  and  there  the  child  received  much  of 
his  education. 

Compared  with  this  situation,  the  modern  family 
reveals  a  decidedly  diminished  importance.  One  after 
another  the  activities  which  once  characterized  the 
home  have  been  carried  outside.  Production,  recreation, 
education,  religion,  all  draw  both  young  and  old  to 
specialized  centers,  away  from  the  home.  In  fact,  the 
tendency  seems  to  be  to  reduce  a  common  type  of  home 
to  merely  a  place  to  eat  and  sleep.  The  function  of 
the  home  as  the  meeting  place  of  all  the  members  of 
the  family  is  steadily  diminishing.  Many  a  twentieth- 
century  father  scarcely  sees  his  young  children  from 
Monday  morning  to  Saturday  evening.  As  children 
grow  older,  they  are  commonly  separated  from  parental 
influence  for  longer  or  shorter  periods,  being  drawn  into 


224  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

industrial  activities  early  in  their  teens  in  the  lower 
walks  of  life,  and  being  sent  away  to  boarding  schools 
in  more  well-to-do  circles.  In  families  which  can  af- 
ford it,  even  the  traditional  duties  of  the  mother  are 
relegated  more  and  more  to  employees,  not  members 
of  the  family.  Taking  it  all  in  all,  the  influence  of  the 
family  upon  its  members,  young  and  old,  is  decidedly 
less  than  it  was  a  few  generations  ago.  In  view  of  the 
fact  that  the  family  is  the  unit  of  the  social  organization, 
the  importance  of  this  development  can  hardly  be  over- 
estimated. 

The  changes  just  noted  have  borne  down  more  heavily 
upon  women  than  men.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  most 
of  the  work,  once  the  exclusive  charge  of  woman  in 
the  home,  has  been  taken  out  of  the  home.  This  is 
true,  but  it  states  only  half  the  case.  The  other  half 
is  that  the  work  of  man  has  also  been  taken  out  of  the 
home.  The  difference  is  that  man  has  readily  and 
easily  followed  his  work,  into  factory,  store,  and  office, 
while  it  is  much  more  difficult  for  woman,  particularly 
if  married,  to  adapt  herself  to  the  modern  mode  of  pro- 
duction. The  result  is,  that  while  the  burden  of  women 
as  a  whole,  even  in  poor  families,  has  been  immeasurably 
lightened,  this  easement  has  been  accompanied  by  the 
progressive  reduction  of  the  importance  and  value  of 
woman  in  the  family.  The  wife  and  mother  has  been 
compelled  to  stand  by  and  see  herself  deprived  of  one 
after  another  of  the  things  which,  while  they  taxed  her 
strength,  yet  gave  her  a  sense  of  usefulness  and  worth, 
and  enabled  her  to  fill  her  time  with  productive  effort. 
So  far  has  this  process  gone,  that  the  wife  in  the  average 
well-to-do  home  finds  herself  reduced  to  the  two  func- 
tions of  overseer  of  an  establishment,  and  bearer  of  such 


MARRIAGE  AND  THE  FAMILY  225 

few  children  as  there  are.  Meanwhile,  the  education 
and  general  emancipation  of  woman  have  been  going 
on  apace,  awakening  in  her  new  desires,  new  ambitions, 
and  a  new  sense  of  power  and  potential  usefulness.  In 
the  situation  thus  outlined  lie  many  of  the  roots  of  the 
present  growing  unrest  among  the  more  enlightened 
women  of  the  day. 

The  inconsistency  between  the  economic  and  marriage- 
family  mores.  Even  more  serious  are  the  maladjustments 
which  result  from  the  inconsistency  between  the  economic 
mores  and  the  marriage-family  mores.  This  inconsist- 
ency is  the  result  of  the  unequal  rate  of  change  in  the 
two  sets  of  mores  during  the  past  century  and  a  half. 
The  economic  mores  have  been  forced  to  adjust  them- 
selves to  the  rapid  changes  in  the  arts  of  industry ;  the 
marriage-family  mores,  lacking  any  such  incentive  to 
change,  have  remained  relatively  similar  to  what  they 
were  two  centuries  ago.  Consequently,  the  approxi- 
mate balance  and  adjustment  which  obtained  during  a 
comparatively  static  period  have  been  destroyed,  and 
confusion  results. 

The  most  striking  example  of  the  maladjustment  just 
mentioned  is  furnished  by  the  differing  economic  po- 
sition of  woman  in  industry  and  in  the  home.  As  was 
observed  in  the  discussion  of  the  economic  aspects  of 
modern  life,  the  woman  of  the  twentieth  century  is  free 
to  enter  almost  any  occupation  in  open  competition 
with  men.  In  some  few  occupations  women  are  more 
efficient  than  men,  in  others  they  are  of  about  equal 
efficiency,  and  in  many  they  are  nearly  enough  on  an 
equality  to  make  them  real  competitors.  If  they  are 
willing  to  underbid  men  sufficiently  to  offset  any  in- 
feriority in  efficiency,  they  get  the  positions.  In  brief, 
Q 


226  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

in  almost  every  department  of  the  economic  field,  women 
meet  men  in  free  competition.  But  as  soon  as  the  realm 
of  the  family  is  entered,  the  economic  parity  between 
men  and  women  ceases.  There  the  financial  burdens 
and  responsibilities  lie  wholly  on  the  men.  The  result 
is  that  in  modern  societies  there  occurs  the  phenomenon 
of  women,  with  no  responsibility  for  the  support  of  any 
one  but  themselves,  and  sometimes  not  even  for  that, 
competing  for  employment  with  men  who  are  actually 
or  potentially  responsible  for  the  support,  not  only  of 
themselves,  but  of  an  ordinary  family.  In  many  cases, 
young  women,  by  their  competition,  lower  the  wages  of 
the  very  men  whom  in  the  course  of  time  they  will 
naturally  marry.  But  as  soon  as  marriage  takes  place 
the  woman  is  ordinarily  expected  to  relinquish  money- 
earning,  and  the  diminished  income  of  the  man  must 
then  support  both  husband  and  wife,  and  any  children 
who  may  come.  It  is  to  be  observed,  in  passing,  that 
woman  labor  tends  to  lower  the  wages  of  men  in  two 
ways :  first,  by  increasing  the  number  of  individuals 
bidding  for  employment;  second,  by  introducing  a 
large  number  of  individuals  who  are  willing,  and  able,  to 
work  for  a  much  smaller  wage  than  a  man  can  reason- 
ably expect.  It  is  in  the  latter  way,  probably,  that  the 
greatest  effect  is  achieved.  The  extreme  example  of 
this  factor  is  furnished  by  girls  who  work  merely  to  earn 
"pin-money." 

The  evils  resulting  from  the  maladjustment  between 
these  two  sets  of  mores  are  numerous  and  weighty. 
Probably  the  most  important  is  the  lowering  of  the 
income  of  families  who  depend  upon  the  earnings  of  the 
husband  alone.  In  fact,  it  is  a  question  whether  the 
standard  of  living  of  the  wage  earning  class  as  a  whole 


MARRIAGE  AND  THE  FAMILY  227 

has  been  raised  in  the  slightest  degree  by  the  partici- 
pation of  women  in  wage-labor.  In  families  where  there 
are  no  women  at  work,  the  family  income  is  lower  than 
it  would  have  been  if  there  had  never  been  any  woman 
labor,  while  in  the  families  where  women  contribute  to 
the  family  income,  the  pecuniary  gain  is  offset  by  the 
withdrawal  of  the  mother  and  older  daughters  from  those 
unpaid  labors  which  go  so  far  to  make  the  home  what  it 
should  be.  Another  evil  resulting  from  the  maladjust- 
ment in  question  is  the  dissatisfaction  which  many 
women  feel  who  relinquish  well-paid  occupations  for  the 
financially  dependent  position  of  the  married  woman. 
If,  as  often  happens,  the  earning  power  of  the  woman  is 
equal,  or  even  superior,  to  that  of  the  man,  the  result- 
ing dissatisfaction  and  friction  may  be  extreme,  es- 
pecially if  the  man  belongs  to  that  class  of  husbands 
who  force  their  wives  to  take  the  position  of  suppliants 
for  any  money  given  them  for  their  own  uses.  Then 
again,  there  is  the  large  class  of  childless  women,  or 
women  whose  children  are  grown  up,  who  are  tremen- 
dously irked  by  the  aimless  conventional  life  which  they 
are  expected  to  follow.  Knowing  themselves  capable  of 
doing  valuable  work,  conscious  of  latent  ability  in  one 
direction  or  another,  perhaps  ambitious  for  a  "career," 
they  resent  being  forced  to  spend  their  time  in  the  mean- 
ingless round  of  luncheons,  teas,  bridge  parties,  and 
stereotyped  "charities."  Occasionally  an  independent- 
spirited  woman  breaks  through  the  barriers  of  con- 
vention, and  takes  the  place  in  the  world  of  affairs  for 
which  her  talents  fit  her,  to  the  satisfaction  of  herself 
and  probably  also  of  her  husband. 

There  are,  of  course,  many  positive  advantages  in 
woman  labor  itself.    The  total  working  force  of  so- 


228  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

ciety  is  increased,  and  production  thereby  augmented. 
Girls  whose  families  are  not  able  to  provide  them  with 
educational  opportunities  are  doubtless  better  off  em- 
ployed than  idle,  and  in  many  cases  there  is*  not  enough 
work  at  home  to  keep  them  profitably  employed.  The 
feeling  of  independence  which  the  wage-earning  girl 
draws  from  her  employment  is  a  desirable  characteristic, 
and  prevents  her  from  rashly  accepting  in  marriage  the 
hand  of  the  first  suitor  who  presents  himself,  merely  for 
the  sake  of  providing  for  her  own  support,  or  relieving 
her  family  of  expense  —  what  the  girls  themselves  call 
"marrying  a  meal-ticket."  The  broadening  influence  of 
participating  in  the  busy  life  of  the  world  is  also  a  definite 
gain.  But  it  must  be  noted  that  all  these  advantages 
are  to  be  credited  to  woman  labor  as  such,  and  cannot 
be  cited  to  justify  or  offset  the  evils  which  arise  from  the 
maladjustment  between  the  economic  and  family  mores 
as  regards  the  position  of  woman. 

There  can  scarcely  be  a  more  serious  maladjustment 
than  a  disharmony  between  the  normal  aspects  of  the 
two  fundamental  sets  of  mores.  Such  a  maladjustment 
exists  in  the  countries  of  western  civilization.  It  is 
bound  to  be  remedied  in  time,  and  since  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  economic  emancipation  of 
woman  has  come  to  stay,  the  indications  are  that  the 
changes  by  which  the  readjustment  is  effected  will  be 
in  the  mores  of  marriage  and  the  family,  rather  than  in 
the  economic  mores. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MIGRATIONS 

Importance  of  migrations.  As  a  secondary  type  of  fac- 
tor conditioning  the  growth  of  population,  the  phenom- 
enon of  human  migrations  has  been  mentioned,  and 
something  said  as  to  the  general  effects  of  migrations 
upon  the  rate  of  growth  of  population  in  the  two  coun- 
tries concerned.  It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  there 
are  other  effects  of  migrations  which  are  of  great  im- 
portance to  the  national  life,  particularly  of  the  country 
to  which  the  migration  directs  itself. 

Types  of  migration.  There  have  been,  in  the  past, 
several  distinct  types  of  population  movements,  corre- 
sponding to  the  different  stages  of  cultural  evolution, 
and  the  varying  degrees  of  density  of  population  in  the 
various  centers  of  human  habitation.  At  the  present 
time  there  are  three  principal  forms  of  migration  which 
are  of  practical  interest  to  civilized  nations ;  these  are 
colonization,  immigration,  and  what  may  be  called 
"urbanization." 

Colonization.  Colonization  is  the  movement  from  a 
well-developed,  culturally  advanced  nation  to  a  newly 
discovered,  or  recently  available,  thinly  populated, 
low-cultured  country.  In  cases  of  true  colonization 
the  home  state  is  almost  always  densely  populated,  rela- 
tive to  its  stage  of  the  arts,  while  the  colonized  region 

229 


230  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

is  thinly  populated,  usually  with  a  native  people  so 
far  inferior  to  the  colonists  as  to  offer  no  serious  resist- 
ance. The  distinguishing  features  of  colonization  are 
political  domination  by  the  home  state,  and  actual  or 
prospective  settlement  by  people  from  the  home  state. 
Inasmuch  as  almost  all  the  regions  on  earth,  adapted 
for  colonization,  have  now  been  discovered  and  more  or 
less  appropriated  by  the  more  advanced  nations,  the 
present  problems  of  colonization  are  rather  the  mainte- 
nance and  development  of  colonial  systems  than  the 
initiation  of  new  colonial  enterprises. 

Immigration.  Like  colonization,  immigration  is  the 
movement  of  people  from  a  thickly  settled  country  to 
a  thinly  populated  country.  The  countries  in  which 
immigration  originates  are  almost  always  overpopulated 
in  the  absolute  sense;  the  countries  of  destination  are 
either  less  seriously  overpopulated  or  absolutely  under- 
populated. In  general,  the  modern  immigration  move- 
ment represents  the  present  aspect  of  the  redistribution 
of  population  consequent  upon  the  Great  Discoveries, 
and  the  countries  which  are  now  receiving  large  currents 
of  immigration  are  mostly  developed  farm  colonies,  which 
have  become  independent,  either  absolutely  or  in  every- 
thing but  name.  Such  countries  are  Canada,  Argentina, 
Brazil,  South  Africa,  Australia,  and,  preeminently, 
the  United  States. 

There  are  certain  distinct  differences,  however,  between 
colonization  and  immigration  which  mark  them  off  as 
wholly  different  types  of  population  movement.  First, 
immigration  always  crosses  a  national  boundary,  while 
colonization  never  does.  This  distinction,  which  at 
first  thought  might  seem  purely  arbitrary,  is  really  of 
the  highest  practical  importance.  Countries,  as  a  rule, 


MIGRATIONS  231 

do  not  disapprove  of,  or  seek  to  impede,  the  movement 
of  their  people  to  their  own  colonies ;  they  very  fre- 
quently regret,  and  sometimes  try  to  prohibit,  their 
emigration  to  other  countries.  Second,  the  two  coun- 
tries involved  in  immigration  movements  are  usually 
on  approximately  the  same  culture  level  —  often  the 
country  of  destination  is  more  highly  civilized  than  the 
country  of  source.  Third,  while  colonization  is  a  state 
affair,  carried  on  with  governmental  backing  and  support, 
immigration  is  a  definitely  individualistic  undertaking, 
based  on  private  resources,  and  frequently,  as  noted 
above,  prosecuted  in  the  face  of  governmental  disap- 
proval. These  three  considerations,  and  others  of 
minor  importance,  differentiate  the  practical  problems 
of  immigration  from  those  of  colonization.  The 
study  of  colonization  furnishes  some  few  analogies 
and  general  principles  for  the  guidance  of  states  in 
framing  a  practical  immigration  policy,  but  it  does 
not  by  any  means  supply  a  complete  set  of  rules  or 
precedents. 

The  effects  of  immigration  are  much  more  varied  and 
profound,  and  the  practical  problems  resulting  are 
therefore  much  more  vital,  in  the  case  of  the  country 
of  destination  than  of  the  country  of  source.  The  prin- 
cipal reason  for  this  fact  is  that,  whereas  emigration 
merely  affects  the  adjustment  of  the  Malthusian  factors 
in  the  country  of  source,  and  brings  about  some  reflex 
influence  on  the  mores  as  a  result  of  new  contacts 
with  another  country,  immigration  introduces  into  the 
country  of  destination  large  numbers  of  people  of  dif- 
ferent racial  stocks,  with  widely  variant  sets  of  mores, 
thereby  influencing  practically  all  social  forms,  institu- 
tions, and  interests. 


232  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

It  is  scarcely  an  overstatement  to  say  that,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  United  States,  immigration  is  the 
greatest  public  problem  confronting  the  nation,  for  the 
very  reason  just  mentioned,  viz.,  that  it  conditions 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent  every  other  public  problem. 
Investigators  who  get  at  the  heart  of  the  various  na- 
tional questions  of  the  day  find,  almost  without  exception, 
that  immigration  is  one  of  the  chief  factors  to  be  con- 
sidered. It  is  inevitable  that  this  should  be  so.  It 
is  impossible  that  over  32,000,000  aliens,  from  every 
European  nation  and  many  others,  should  be  introduced 
into  a  new  country  like  the  United  States  in  less  than 
a  century,  without  influencing  every  thread  of  the  social 
fabric  from  one  extremity  to  the  other.  A  knowledge 
of  immigration  is  almost  a  prerequisite  for  the  intelligent 
handling  of  any  other  public  question. 

The  criterion  of  a  sound  immigration  policy  is  com- 
plete and  rapid  assimilation,  by  which  is  meant  the 
perfect  transmutation  of  the  new  elements  into  con- 
formity with  the  normal  national  type.  The  words 
"  complete  "  and  "  rapid  "  are  used  in  a  relative  sense, 
for  as  long  as  immigration  is  in  operation  assimilation 
can  never  be  absolutely  complete,  and  such  assimilation 
as  occurs  takes  considerable  time.  The  essence  of 
assimilation  is  the  substitution  of  one  set  of  mores  for 
another  set  of  mores.  This  is  a  process  which  probably 
is  impossible  of  achievement  in  the  case  of  any  adult 
immigrant,  during  his  lifetime.  Such  assimilation  as 
takes  place  occurs  in  the  case  of  very  immature  immi- 
grants, or  in  succeeding  generations.  The  maximum 
volume  of  immigration  which  a  nation  can  safely  receive 
is  set  by  its  ability  to  assimilate  the  newcomers  without 
permanently  affecting  the  national  type  of  social  organ- 


MIGRATIONS  233 

ization  or  mores.  This  principle  should  be  the  basic 
guide  for  legislators  in  determining  the  question  of  the 
restriction  of  immigration. 

As  representative  of  the  types  of  influence  exerted 
by  immigration  on  the  life  of  the  United  States,  the  two 
following,  which  are  among  the  most  important,  may 
be  cited.  First,  the  eugenic  influence,  which  results 
from  the  introduction  into  our  body  politic  of  a  variety 
of  foreign  blood  strains,  the  desirability  of  which,  and 
the  fitness  of  which  for  American  conditions,  have  not 
been  determined.  This  general  influence  is  quite  apart 
from  the  special  influence,  as  to  the  undesirability  of 
which  there  can  be  no  question,  exerted  by  those  defi- 
nitely abnormal  and  antisocial  blood  strains,  which  our 
immigration  laws  have  never  yet  succeeded  in  completely 
excluding.  Second,  the  influence  of  immigration  upon 
the  standard  of  living  of  the  American  workingman. 
The  retarding  or  depressing  effect  of  immigration  upon 
the  wage  earner's  standard,  similar  to  the  effect  of  woman 
labor  on  the  general  wage  level  (see  page  226),  is  accom- 
plished in  two  ways ;  first,  by  a  marked  increase  in  the 
number  of  laborers  bidding  for  employment  at  just 
those  times  when  the  demand  for  labor  is  keenest,  and 
second,  and  much  more  important,  by  the  competition 
between  unequal  standards  of  living.  The  immigrant 
brings  to  this  country  a  standard  definitely  lower  than 
the  normal  standard  of  the  United  States  —  it  is  the 
higher  American  standard,  in  fact,  which  chiefly  attracts 
him  —  and  consequently  is  willing  to  accept  a  wage 
which  will  enable  him  to  raise  his  standard  to  some  de- 
gree, and  yet  will  force  the  American  laborer  to  lower  his 
standard  in  competition.  This  competition  between 
foreign  and  native  standards  of  living  is  one  of  the  most 


234  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

menacing  social  phenomena  of  recent  decades  in  the 
United  States. 

Urbanization.  Urbanization  is  the  increasing  con- 
centration of  population  in  cities,  as  compared  with 
country  districts  and  small  towns.  This  phenomenon 
has  characterized  the  development  of  all  modern  coun- 
tries during  the  past  half  century  or  more  to  an  amazing 
degree.  It  is  both  a  statistical  and  an  actual  popula- 
tion movement ;  that  is,  not  only  do  the  figures  reveal 
an  increasingly  large  proportion  of  the  total  population 
resident  in  cities,  but  there  is  a  real  transference  of  men, 
women,  and  children  from  rural  to  urban  districts. 
The  extent  of  such  transference  which  is  necessary  to 
effect  a  certain  growth  in  city  population  is  by  no  means 
so  large,  at  present,  as  it  was  during  earlier  centuries 
when  cities  were  rightly  considered  the  devourers  of 
mankind,  and  an  enormous  migration  was  necessary 
to  provide  for  any  growth  at  all.  The  art  of  living  in 
cities  has  now  progressed  so  far  that  every  up-to-date 
city  could  hold  its  own  without  any  increments  from 
outside. 

The  great  city  is  distinctly  a  modern  institution. 
Before  the  days  of  Alexander  the  Great  there  were  only 
three  cities  in  the  lands  of  western  civilization  with  a 
population  of  over  100,000  each,  and  none  of  these 
exceeded  that  figure  largely.  About  200  B.C.  there 
were  four  cities  with  over  200,000  each.  It  was  not 
until  after  1000  A.D.  that  the  development  of  towns 
really  began  in  Europe.  Even  then  towns  were  small, 
rarely  exceeding  20,000.  The  average  first  class  town 
in  England  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries 
numbered  about  5ooo.93  The  same  factors,  indeed, 
which  have  determined  the  normal  aspects  of  the  modern 


MIGRATIONS  235 

economic  organization  —  those  factors  which  we  group 
under  the  heads  of  the  Industrial  and  Commercial 
Revolutions  —  account  for  the  rise  of  the  modern 
city.  Not  until  great  improvements  in  the  arts  of 
industry  freed  a  considerable  percentage  of  the  toilers 
from  the  soil,  not  until  the  development  of  large- 
scale  production  furnished  an  incentive  to  the  forming 
of  great  human  aggregations,  could  concentration  of 
population  take  place  to  the  extent  with  which  we 
are  familiar. 

In  using  statistics  to  portray  the  progress  of  urbaniza- 
tion, care  must  be  used  with  reference  to  the  definition 
of  the  term  "city."  Different  interpretations  have 
prevailed  at  different  times,  and  in  different  places. 
A  certain  "city"  in  Kansas  was  once  reported  as  having 
79  inhabitants.  In  general,  the  figure  2000  is  coming 
to  be  recognized  as  the  dividing  line  between  city  and 
country  in  Europe,  and  2500  in  the  United  States. 
The  most  characteristic  and  significant  growth,  however, 
is  not  in  the  smaller  urban  units,  but  in  the  monster 
cities. 

The  United  States  illustrates  the  shifting  of  popula- 
tion from  country  to  city  to  a  remarkable  degree.  Fol- 
lowing the  definition  formerly  used  in  this  country  (8000 
as  the  minimum  size  of  a  city),  2.5  per  cent  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  Colonies  was  urban  in  1710.  In  1790 
there  were  five  cities  with  a  population  of  8000  or  more, 
and  the  percentage  had  risen  to  3.3 ;  in  1800,  4.0  per 
cent;  in  1850,  12.5  per  cent;  and  in  1900,  32.9  per 
cent.  Adopting  the  modern  classification  of  2500  as 
the  dividing  line,  the  percentages  of  the  total  population 
classed  as  urban  and  rural  at  the  last  four  census  years 
was  as  follows : 


236 


APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 


CLASSIFICATION   OF  TOTAL  POPULATION    OF  UNITED  STATES  ON  A 
BASIS  OF  GROUPS  OF  MORE  OR  LESS  THAN 


YEAR 

PER  CENT  URBAN 

PER  CENT  RURAL 

1880     

20.  e 

70.  c 

iggo     

id  i 

fit  o 

IOOO        . 

AO  tr 

en  e 

IQIO           

A.d  i 

ft  T 

Even  more  startling  changes  have  occurred  in  some 
European  countries,  as  for  instance  England  and  Scot- 
land, each  of  which  has  suffered  an  absolute  loss  in  rural 
population  since  1861.  So  too,  France,  with  a  nearly 
stationary  population,  shows  a  steady  growth  of  cities, 
indicating  an  actual  diminution  of  rural  population.95 

Such  a  shifting  of  relative  importance  between  the 
two  basic  elements  of  the  population  must  inevitably 
have  profound  and  varied  effects  upon  almost  every 
social  form  and  institution.  More  and  more  is  the  social 
life  of  modern  nations  coming  to  be  dominated  by  the 
city;  more  and  more  are  the  problems  of  democracy 
centering  about,  and  within,  the  great  aggregations  of 
humanity.  It  is  not  necessary  to  inquire  in  detail  into 
the  causes  of  urbanization.  As  already  suggested,  they 
are  inherent  in  the  dominant  forces  of  modern  economic 
life.  At  the  same  tune,  city  life  itself  offers  many 
advantages  and  attractions.  The  opportunities  for 
the  gratification  of  almost  every  ambition  are  greater 
and  more  varied  in  the  city  than  in  the  country ;  oppor- 
tunities for  diversion,  enjoyment,  and  excitement 
abound  there,  undreamed  of  in  the  rural  districts. 
Moreover,  the  denizen  of  the  city  is  freed  from  many 
of  the  petty  cares,  annoyances,  and  duties  —  "chores," 


MIGRATIONS  237 

to  use  the  rural  term  —  which  characterize  life  in  the 
country. 

To  offset  these  advantages  there  are  numerous  draw- 
backs to  city  life,  particularly  in  the  way  of  limitations 
upon  personal  liberty.  It  is  a  law  of  social  growth 
that  every  increase  in  the  complexity  of  the  social  or- 
ganization necessitates  wider  social  interference  in  the 
lives  of  individuals,  and  stricter  social  control.  Num- 
bers of  customs  and  practices,  which  are  harmless,  if 
not  really  beneficial,  in  the  country,  become  intolerable 
in  the  city.  The  city  dweller  finds  himself  hampered 
by  a  host  of  limitations  upon  his  use  of  his  property, 
and  his  personal  behavior.  In  the  disposal  of  sewage, 
in  the  use  of  the  street,  in  the  making  of  unnecessary 
noise,  in  the  burning  of  coal,  and  in  countless  other 
affairs,  the  city  dweller  is  not  his  own  master  to  anything 
like  the  extent  that  he  might  be  in  the  country.  At 
the  same  time,  the  impersonality  of  relationships,  so 
characteristic  of  all  modern  life,  is  particularly  marked 
in  the  city.  As  one  writer  has  said,  "The  urban  fami- 
lies ...  do  not  know  each  other,  but  they  cannot  live 
without  each  other."  96 

On  the  whole,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  advantages 
and  attractions  of  the  city  far  outweigh  its  drawbacks 
for  the  average  twentieth-century  individual.  Partic- 
ularly after  one  has  become  habituated  to  urban  life, 
any  other  type  of  existence  seems  tame  and  colorless, 
even  though  one's  city  home  be  located  in  the  most 
congested  districts.  This  fact  is  strikingly  illustrated 
by  the  experience  of  factory  managers  who  have  en- 
deavored to  gather  their  working  force  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  a  suburban  factory,  only  to  learn  that 
the  laborers  are  unwilling  to  relinquish  the  delights  of 


238  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

city  residence,  and  afford  the  striking  phenomenon 
of  people  commuting  out  into  the  country  to  work  in 
the  morning,  and  commuting  back  at  night  to  their 
homes  in  the  slums.  It  is  significant  of  the  great  change 
that  has  taken  place  hi  the  relative  importance  of  the 
country,  that  rural  districts  are  now  recognized  as  having 
their  own  "  problems,"  and  a  special  branch  of  sociology 
has  been  developed  to  meet  them. 

What  with  its  general  attractiveness,  and  much  more 
with  its  economic  necessity,  the  great  city  has  undoubt- 
edly come  to  stay,  and  will  exert  an  increasingly  domi- 
nant influence  upon  the  social  life  of  coming  generations. 
Fortunately,  the  great  city  is  being  studied  with  exhaus- 
tive and  scientific  care  by  a  host  of  investigators,  and 
means  are  being  devised  whereby  the  social  control 
which  is  so  necessary  may  be  effectively  and  profitably 
exerted  with  the  minimum  of  annoyance.  There  is 
scarcely  in  existence  a  more  promising  field  for  conscious 
social  betterment  than  in  the  relationships  which  char- 
acterize the  great  city. 

There  is  great  need  that  such  study  should  be  ex- 
pended, and  that  such  devices  of  social  control  should 
be  put  into  operation.  For  the  natural  forces  at  work 
in  cities  are  such  as  to  lead  inevitably  to  most  undesir- 
able social  conditions  if  left  uncontrolled. 

The  housing  problem.  The  fundamental  feature  of 
the  urban  center  is  the  limitation  of  space  per  individual. 
Ground  space  is  an  elemental  necessity  for  man  for 
two  reasons ;  first,  to  furnish  him  an  emplacement ; 
second,  to  provide  him  the  means  of  subsistence.  The 
dwellers  in  cities  relinquish  the  latter  of  these  claims, 
and  depend  for  their  subsistence  upon  the  productive 
efforts  of  the  rural  population,  for  which  they  make 


MIGRATIONS  239 

returns  of  a  secondary  nature.  But  the  former  claim 
cannot  be  thus  transferred.  Man,  wherever  he  is,  must 
have  some  abiding  space.  In  rural  districts  the  impor- 
tance of  land  as  a  place  to  support  men's  bodies  seems 
wholly  subsidiary ;  in  the  city  it  becomes  primary. 
The  stronger  the  forces  drawing  men  together  into  close 
aggregations,  the  greater  becomes  the  demand  for  land 
space,  the  keener  becomes  the  competition  for  its  pos- 
session, and  the  higher  becomes  its  value.  This  space 
is  demanded  for  two  forms  of  occupation,  business  and 
residence,  and  since  the  economic  forces  are  the  chief 
causes  of  the  growth  of  cities,  it  inevitably  happens  that 
the  demand  for  land  is  sharpest,  and  the  value  of  land 
is  highest,  in  the  business  districts.  Nevertheless, 
since  everybody  wishes  to  live  near  to  the  business 
district,  and  to  the  other  centers  of  civic  activity,  land 
for  residence  purposes  within  the  confines  of  the  city 
is  also  in  great  demand,  and  brings  a  high  price. 

One  result  of  the  high  price  of  city  land  is  that  only 
the  relatively  well-to-do  can  afford  to  own  sufficient 
land  to  accomodate  a  single  dwelling  house,  even  of 
moderate  proportions.  The  great  majority  of  the  popu- 
lation in  the  largest  cities  lives  in  multiple  houses.  Thus 
in  New  York  City  this  type  of  dwelling  accommodates 
two  thirds  of  the  population.  In  the  most  desirable 
residence  districts,  even  the  rich  prefer  to  live  in  multiple 
dwellings  rather  than  to  incur  the  enormous  outlay 
involved  in  a  single  residence.  For  the  poorer  classes 
there  is  no  question  of  land  ownership,  to  say  nothing 
of  single  houses.  The  residence  problem  for  these 
classes  resolves  itself  into  the  problem  of  rent,  and 
primarily  of  the  rent  of  tenement  apartments. 

Thus  there  arises  in  the  great  city  the  modern  aspect 


240  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

of  the  age-long  relationship  of  landlord  and  tenant,  and 
because  the  city  presents  conditions  never  before  devel- 
oped, the  problem  of  city  rents  is  different  from  any 
problem  ever  faced  by  less  complex  societies.  The 
city  landlord  is  no  different  from  any  other  type  of 
landlord,  in  that  he  owns  his  land  for  profit,  and  wishes 
to  secure  the  greatest  possible  return  from  it.  But 
because  of  the  specialized  uses  to  which  city  land  is 
put,  there  are  possibilities  of  increase  in  the  returns 
from  city  land  which  do  not  exist  in  rural  districts. 
In  short,  while  city  land  space  cannot  be  extended 
laterally,  it  can,  for  all  practical  purposes,  be  extended 
vertically.  The  landlord  who  tears  down  a  two  story 
flat  house  and  erects  an  eight  story  tenement  virtually 
increases  his  land  space  four  fold.  Furthermore,  since 
the  unit  of  the  social  organization  is  the  family,  and 
rents  are  paid  by  families,  the  landlord  who  leases  his 
land  space  for  residence  purposes  desires  to  accommodate 
the  largest  possible  number  of  families  on  the  given 
space. 

These  are  the  forces  which  have  created  the  typical 
modern  tenement  house,  the  characteristic  dwelling 
place  of  the  poorer  classes  of  cities.  The  natural  eco- 
nomic interests  of  the  landlord  lead  directly  to  the  utili- 
zation of  every  available  square  foot  of  land  for  build- 
ing purposes,  to  the  reduction  of  the  size  of  apartments 
to  the  lowest  minimum,  to  the  extension  of  buildings 
upward  to  the  maximum  height,  and  to  the  use  of  the 
cheapest  modes  of  construction  consistent  with  economic 
profit.  What  forces  set  the  limits  to  this  process  ?  Evi- 
dently, not  the  will  of  the  landlord  class.  For,  as 
already  observed,*  the  desire,  even  of  a  majority  of  a 
*  Pages  149-152. 


MIGRATIONS  241 

certain  class  of  capitalists,  to  use  its  capital  in  social 
ways,  will  not  avail  to  prevent  the  emergence  of  most 
undesirable  conditions,  in  the  absence  of  control.  As 
long  as  there  are  a  few  landlords  who  demand  the  last 
cent  of  profit  on  their  investment,  even  at  the  expense  of 
the  happiness  and  health  of  their  tenants,  their  unregu- 
lated competition  will  be  powerful  enough  to  bring  the 
entire  standard  of  tenement  accommodations  down  to 
the  level  which  they  are  willing  to  tolerate.  An  adherent 
of  the  old  laissez-faire  doctrine  would  have  said,  "Leave 
it  to  the  self-interest  of  the  parties  concerned.  Let  the 
tenants  demand  such  accommodations  as  they  are  able 
to  pay  for."  But  society  has  learned  that  such  matters 
cannot  be  left  to  the  play  of  the  forces  of  individual 
self-interest.  There  is  too  great  an  inequality  of  power 
and  advantage  between  the  party  who  has  capital, 
and  the  one  who  has  not.  The  facts  of  life  are  that,  in 
the  absence  of  control,  the  landlord  offers  such  types  of 
accommodation  as  he  chooses,  and  the  tenant,  because 
of  ignorance,  necessity,  or  poverty,  has  to  take  what 
he  can  get.  One  shudders  to  think  what  the  housing 
conditions  of  the  wage  earners  would  be  like  in  the  com- 
plete absence  of  control. 

Necessity  of  social  control.  There  is  just  one  way 
out.  There  must  be  control,  and  the  only  control  which 
is  adequate  is  social  control.  Modern  cities  have  recog- 
nized this  truth  —  sometimes  rather  tardily  —  and  no 
city  which  lays  any  claim  to  respect  lacks  its  more  or 
less  comprehensive  tenement  law,  or  general  housing 
law.  The  details  included  in  an  up-to-date  law  of  this 
sort  are  very  numerous,  including  every  aspect  of  tene- 
ment construction  and  maintenance  which  can  have 
any  bearing  upon  the  welfare  of  the  tenants.  Among 


242  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

the  more  important  items  covered  are  light,  air,  sanita- 
tion, provision  against  fire,  height  of  buildings,  per  cent 
of  lot  occupied  by  buildings,  etc.  One  of  the  chief 
evils  to  be  guarded  against  is  congestion,  of  which  two 
sorts  are  recognized,  lot  congestion  and  room  congestion. 
Lot  congestion  involves  the  crowding  together  of  too 
many  persons  on  a  given  ground  space,  so  that  the  so- 
called  "free  goods"  which  usually  go  with  land,  viz., 
light  and  air,  are  reduced  to  unsatisfactory  proportions. 
Room  congestion  exists  when  more  persons  are  living 
in  a  given  apartment  than  the  normal  standards  of 
decency  and  comfort  will  allow.  Lot  congestion  and 
room  congestion  frequently  occur  together,  but  room 
congestion  may  occur  in  all  sorts  of  environments,  even 
in  single  houses  in  rural  districts.  The  evils  of  room 
congestion  are  too  obvious  to  need  enumeration,  though 
their  extent  and  their  significance  to  the  life  of  the  family 
and  the  nation  can  be  comprehended  only  by  thorough 
study.  As  an  example  of  lot  congestion  may  be  cited 
the  case  of  the  New  York  block  which  was  inhabited 
in  the  proportion  of  1672  persons  per  acre,  or  304  per- 
sons per  acre  per  story.97  Cases  of  extreme  room  con- 
gestion are  revealed  by  every  housing  investigation ; 
the  following  example  is  unusual  only  in  degree,  not  in 
kind.  "In  another  case  a  room  containing  only  841 
cubic  feet  was  occupied  at  night  by  a  man  and  his 
wife,  their  one  child,  and  three  lodgers,  while  four  other 
lodgers  occupied  the  same  room  during  the  day."  98 
The  practice  of  taking  boarders  is  a  fruitful  source  of 
room  congestion,  especially  among  the  foreign  elements 
in  the  United  States. 

The  necessity  of  social  control  of  tenements  is  veri- 
fied by  the  fact  that  builders  and  owners  of  tenements, 


MIGRATIONS  243 

in  every  city,  usually  operate  in  accordance  with  the 
minimum  provisions  of  the  law  in  force.  This  fact  is 
exemplified  by  the  notorious  case  of  the  dumb-bell 
tenements  in  New  York  City.  In  fact,  New  York  City 
has  been  cited  as  the  horrible  example  to  all  the  other 
cities  of  the  nation  as  to  what  they  may  inevitably 
expect  in  the  absence  of  efficient  housing  control." 

The  foregoing  discussion  is  merely  suggestive  of  the 
many  problems  which  cluster  about  the  growing  city 
of  the  twentieth  century  —  problems  fascinating  to  the 
social  scientist,  and  vital  to  every  citizen.  One  of  the 
most  hopeful  signs  of  the  times,  as  already  suggested, 
is  the  energy  and  success  with  which  these  problems 
are  being  attacked  and  mastered  by  some  of  the  ablest 
men  and  women  of  the  day.  Those  who  know  most 
about  the  modern  city  are  most  optimistic  as  to  its 
destiny.  The  achievements  of  the  recent  past  are  ample 
justification  for  optimism  as  to  the  future. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

DISEASE.      DEATH.      DIVORCE 

Doubtful  cases.  Before  taking  up  the  consideration 
of  the  abnormal  aspects  of  the  growth  of  population, 
attention  should  be  turned  to  certain  matters  which  lie 
on  the  border  line  between  normality  and  abnormality, 
and  are  therefore  difficult  of  classification. 

Disease  and  death.  Prominent  among  these  matters 
are  the  phenomena  of  disease  and  death.  To  what 
extent  can  disease  and  death  be  called  abnormal  ?  They 
are  universal  and  enduring  factors  in  all  societies,  and 
death,  at  least,  can  never  be  eliminated.  The  only 
approach  to  a  general  rule  on  this  question  appears 
to  be  that  so  much  of  disease  and  death  may  be  called 
abnormal  as  might  be  prevented  by  the  conscientious 
social  application  of  such  knowledge  as  is  possessed  at 
any  given  time  by  any  society.  There  is  no  question 
that  a  death  rate  from  cholera  such  as  prevails  in  India 
would  be  highly  abnormal  in  the  United  States.  Per- 
haps our  present  death  rate  from  cancer  would  be  just 
as  abnormal  twenty-five  or  fifty  years  from  now. 

In  scarcely  any  other  department  of  human  existence 
has  the  normal  been  so  decidedly  raised  as  in  the  case 
of  deaths.  The  death  rates  cited  on  a  preceding  page  * 
are  sufficient  evidence  of  this  fact.  The  improvement  has 
been  most  marked  in  the  case  of  the  infantile  death  rate. 

*Page  216. 
244 


DISEASE.     DEATH.     DIVORCE  245 

As  regards  the  adult  death  rate,  the  greatest  reduc- 
tions have  probably  been  made  in  deaths  from  what 
may  be  called  "social  diseases,"  that  is,  those  diseases 
against  which  the  individual,  under  modern  conditions, 
cannot  possibly  protect  himself  adequately,  but  which, 
by  social  measures,  may  be  brought  down  to  minimum 
proportions.  Practically  all  germ  diseases  come  under 
this  head,  as  they  are  disseminated  through  physical 
or  social  contact  of  men  with  each  other,  and  hence 
spread  most  widely  and  rapidly  where  social  relation- 
ships are  closest.  Prominent  among  these  diseases 
are  smallpox,  malaria,  yellow  fever,  typhoid  fever, 
and  tuberculosis.  The  progress  which  has  been  made 
toward  the  elimination  of  these  diseases  through  the 
agency  of  strict  social  regulation  and  restraint  is  de- 
cidedly encouraging.  It  is  said  that  smallpox  was  at 
one  time  so  prevalent  that  it  was  considered  practically 
a  children's  disease  —  that  is,  all  adult  persons  had 
already  had  it  and  were  therefore  immune.  Now  it  is 
one  of  the  rarest  of  diseases  in  civilized  countries.  Simi- 
lar progress  is  being  made  in  the  control  of  typhoid 
and  tuberculosis;  witness  the  success  of  New  York 
City  in  reducing  its  death  rate  from  tuberculosis  of 
the  lungs  from  211.6  per  100,000  population  in  1903 
to  170.1  in  I9i3,100  and  the  remarkable  achievement  of 
Pittsburgh  in  cutting  down  the  death  rate  from  typhoid 
fever  from  131.2  per  100,000  in  1907  (about  the  average 
for  several  years  preceding)  to  48.9  in  the  very  next  year, 
and  19.5  in  i9i3.101  For  the  United  States  as  a  whole, 
tuberculosis  has  been  reduced  from  the  first  place  among 
the  causes  of  death,  which  it  held  up  to  1912.  In  view 
of  the  intimate  relation  between  diseases  of  the  foregoing 
type  and  modern  socialized  means  of  supplying  various 


246  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

human  needs  —  for  water,  shelter,  milk,  etc.  —  there  is 
every  ground  for  confidence  in  the  efficacy  of  social 
effort  to  control  these  diseases,  and  every  reason  to 
brand  as  negligent  any  society  which  fails  to  utilize 
the  best  methods  within  its  reach  to  safeguard  its  mem- 
bers. 

The  general  result  of  modern  scientific  and  social 
methods  of  handling  the  problem  of  disease  for  the  coun- 
try as  a  whole,  is  shown  by  the  fall  in  the  death  rate  for 
the  entire  registration  area  of  the  United  States  from 
17.6  in  1900  to  14.1  in  I9I3.102 

Certain  other  forms  of  death  are  to  be  regarded  as 
even  more  definitely  abnormal  than  deaths  from  typhoid 
and  tuberculosis ;  such  are  deaths  resulting  from  indus- 
trial accidents,  railroad  accidents,  etc.,  most  of  which 
might  be  prevented  by  the  exertion  of  proper  social 
control.  Deaths  by  homicide  and  suicide  are,  of  course, 
so  clearly  recognized  as  abnormal  as  to  be  designated 
crimes  (attempted  suicide). 

With  respect  to  the  venereal  diseases,  in  spite  of  their 
highly  social  character,  societies  have  displayed  an  amaz- 
ing and  disastrous  degree  of  indifference,  which  has 
cost  them  dear  in  varied  forms  of  suffering  and  loss. 
One  of  the  most  hopeful  indications  of  the  new  social 
consciousness  is  the  increased  attention  which  is  begin- 
ning to  be  paid  to  this  form  of  abnormality. 

Divorce.  Another  phenomenon  which  lies  on  the 
border  line  between  normality  and  abnormality  is 
divorce. 

Reference  is  frequently  made  to  the  "divorce  evil," 
as  if  divorce  were  itself  abnormal,  and  its  existence  a 
curse  to  society.  Analysis  reveals  the  distorted  and 
fallacious  character  of  this  conception.  Divorce  is  an 


DISEASE.    DEATH.     DIVORCE  247 

established,  recognized,  and  normal  social  institution. 
It  is  not  an  evil,  but  a  means  of  eliminating  evil.  The 
evil  consists  in  unsatisfactory  marriages  and  unhappy 
families.  Divorce  is  merely  the  expedient  by  which 
society  sanctions  the  escape  from  a  situation  which 
required  social  sanction  for  entrance.  It  is  as  absurd 
to  focus  attention  upon  divorce  as  a  social  evil,  as  it 
would  be  to  bewail  the  copious  use  of  quinine  in  a  malarial 
district.  Divorce  is  both  the  symptom  and  the  remedy 
of  a  social  disease;  it  is  not  the  disease  itself.  It  is 
just  as  much  a  misdirection  of  social  effort  to  attempt 
to  restrain  divorce  artificially,  as  it  would  be  to  pass 
laws  against  the  use  of  quinine.  Any  evils  which  attach 
to  the  present  divorce  situation  are  to  be  attributed  to 
the  misuse  of  a  valuable  social  expedient,  just  as  many 
beneficial  drugs  may  be  misused.  Attention  should 
be  concentrated  on  seeing  that  those  who  administer 
divorce  discharge  their  function  for  social  benefit 
rather  than  for  social  injury,  and  ultimately,  of  course, 
upon  the  removal  of  the  causes  of  divorce. 

There  is  no  question  that  divorce  is  increasing  to  a 
remarkable  degree  in  the  United  States.  The  number  of 
divorces  per  100,000  population  rose  from  28  in  1870 
to  73  in  iQOo,103  making  a  rate  more  than  twice  as  high 
as  that  of  any  foreign  country  except  Japan.104  There  is 
a  wide  difference  in  the  divorce  rates  in  the  different 
states  of  the  Union,  Washington  showing  a  divorce 
rate  of  513  per  100,000  married  population  in  1900, 
Montana,  497,  and  Colorado,  409,  while  Massachusetts 
had  a  rate  of  124  and  New  York  6o.105  These  figures 
furnish  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  caution  necessary 
in  drawing  conclusions  from  a  comparison  of  sociological 
phenomena  which  depend  upon  legal  measures.  It 


248  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

can  hardly  be  imagined  that  marital  infelicity  is  more 
than  eight  times  as  prevalent  in  Washington  as  in  New 
York;  the  difference  must  lie,  partly  at  least,  in  the 
ease  of  escape  from  irksome  bonds.  So  the  increase 
of  divorce  in  the  country  as  a  whole  admits  of  several 
interpretations,  the  accuracy  of  which  can  be  ascer- 
tained only  by  careful  examination  of  all  the  facts  bear- 
ing on  the  subject. 

As  to  the  social  desirability  of  liberal  (some  would 
say  "lax")  divorce  laws,  opinions  differ  between  the 
widest  extremes.  On  the  one  hand  it  is  urged  that 
divorce  should  be  granted  only  for  adultery,  with  no 
remarriage  for  the  guilty  party  during  the  lifetime  of 
the  other;  on  the  other  hand,  divorce  by  mutual  con- 
sent is  presented  as  the  wisest  plan.  In  general,  the 
chief  arguments  against  easy  divorce  seem  to  be  that 
it  would  encourage  hasty  and  ill-considered  marriages, 
would  lead  to  the  breaking  up  of  families  for  temporary 
or  trivial  causes,  and  hi  the  extreme  would  degenerate 
into  a  system  of  serial  polygamy.  In  favor  of  easy 
divorce  it  is  urged  that  love  is  the  only  justifiable  basis 
for  marriage,  and  that  when  love  has  ceased  to  exist,  it 
is  more  immoral  to  compel  people  to  live  together  than 
to  allow  them  to  separate.  It  is  pointed  out  that  mar- 
riage exists  for  happiness,  and  any  marriage  which  fails 
of  that  purpose  should  be  terminated.  Much  is  made 
of  the  pernicious  influence  exerted  upon  children  by 
the  atmosphere  and  example  of  a  home  where  friction, 
animosity,  and  discord  prevail. 

In  so  far  as  the  increase  in  divorce  in  this  country 
is  an  indication  of  something  more  than  a  mere  relaxa- 
tion in  the  laws,  the  chief  causes  of  the  phenomena  are 
probably  to  be  found  in  the  diminished  religious  sanctity 


DISEASE.     DEATH.     DIVORCE  249 

attached  to  marriage,  in  the  emancipation  and  increased 
self-assertiveness  of  women,  in  the  disharmony  between 
the  economic  and  marriage  mores,  and  in  the  growing 
knowledge  on  the  part  of  women  of  the  nature  and  effects 
of  venereal  disease.  Perhaps  the  great  prosperity  of 
the  country  may  have  something  to  do  with  the  result, 
since  it  is  asserted  that  divorces  tend  to  fall  off  in  periods 
of  hard  times,  indicating  that  possibly  divorce  is  a  form 
of  luxury.106 

Upon  one  point,  there  seems  to  be  general  agreement 
among  students  of  divorce  in  this  country,  viz.,  that  a 
uniform  divorce  law  for  all  the  states  would  be  an  im- 
measurable improvement.  So  diverse  are  our  laws  on 
this  subject  that  "cases  have  occurred  where  a  man 
has  left  two  legal  widows,  each  of  whom  claimed  and 
got  his  estate,  so  far  as  it  lay  within  the  State  in  which 
she  was  married."  107  A  federal  divorce  law,  advocated 
by  some,  would  be  difficult  to  establish,  in  view  of  the 
complex  nature  of  the  interests  involved  in  the  marriage 
relation. 


CHAPTER  XV 

SEXUAL  IMMORALITY 

Sinful  thinking.  In  no  other  department  of  human 
life  is  it  so  clearly  recognized  that  thought  may  be  sinful 
as  in  the  field  of  self -perpetuation.  Moral  and  ethical 
teachers  constantly  emphasize  the  inherent  sinfulness 
of  certain  types  of  thought  about  matters  of  sex,  and 
for  good  reason,  because  in  this  field,  more  than  any- 
where else,  thought  is  a  powerful  predisposing  cause  of 
antisocial  conduct.  So  potent  is  the  influence  of  thought 
upon  human  character  in  this  respect,  that  sexual  think- 
ing at  times  becomes  essentially  vicious,  diminishing 
even  the  economic  efficiency  of  the  individual. 

Basic  nature  of  the  sexual  motive.  In  the  broad  sense, 
not  only  sexual  matters,  but  all  matters  connected  with 
disease,  death,  and  the  nurture  of  children  belong  under 
the  general  head  of  the  growth  of  population,  and  there- 
fore all  unsocial  acts  in  connection  with  these  matters 
might  be  treated  in  this  division.  But  since  the  basis 
of  classification  is  the  social  force,  or  motive,  back  of 
conduct,  it  will  be  expedient  to  confine  attention  pri- 
marily to  those  sinful  acts  which  arise  from  the  sexual 
motive,  and  leave  aside,  or  treat  subordinately,  those 
cases  of  sin,  which,  while  they  affect  the  growth  of  popu- 
lation, originate  in  some  other  than  the  sexual  motive, 
such  as  the  adulteration  of  food,  the  maintenance  of 
unsanitary  tenements,  and  the  exploitation  of  child  labor. 

250 


SEXUAL  IMMORALITY  251 

The  relativity  of  sin.  The  fact  that  sin  is  a  matter 
of  social  standards,  not  of  absolute  and  universal  verities, 
is  clearly  illustrated  by  the  matter  of  sexual  morality. 
Different  societies,  and  the  same  societies  at  different 
times,  exhibit  the  widest  variety  of  mores  with  respect 
to  this  branch  of  the  social  code.  Mores  which  are 
accepted  without  question  by  one  group  of  people 
arouse  the  greatest  abhorrence  in  another  group.  Cus- 
tom exerts  a  tremendous  influence.  Practices  which 
would  not  be  tolerated  in  one  period  of  a  society's 
development  become  the  accepted  mode  of  conduct  a 
decade  or  two  later.  Witness  the  changing  code  with 
reference  to  the  dress  of  women  in  the  United  States 
during  the  past  quarter  of  a  century.  Numerous 
other  examples  are  furnished  by  our  changing  standards 
with  reference  to  the  drama,  to  pictorial  art,  and 
to  drawing-room  conversation.  So  rapidly  do  these 
changes  take  place  that  in  every  generation  many 
people,  especially  those  well  along  in  life,  are  inclined 
to  feel  that  their  own  age  is  decadent,  and  that  morality 
is  on  the  wane.  Thus  a  correspondent  writes,  "In 
art,  behavior,  government,  fashion,  current  literature, 
etc.  degeneracy  is  now  accepted  as  propriety  in  our 
best  educated  society.  Our  fashions  are  immodest,  if 
not  indecent,  our  music,  much  of  it,  is  sensuous  or  inar- 
tistic, and  our  pictorial  art  shows  signs  of  decadence." 
The  writer  might  have  added  that  much  of  our  modern 
drama  seems  to  assume  that  there  is  only  one  important 
motive  in  human  life,  and  that  our  modern  dances  are 
shocking. 

Sentiments  such  as  those  just  expressed  represent  a 
mood  into  which  almost  every  one  is  apt  to  fall  at  times. 
There  is  a  strong  tendency  to  judge  the  morality  of 


252  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

conduct  by  the  code  of  one's  own  youth,  rather  than 
by  existing  standards.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  mo- 
rality is  not  a  matter  of  specific  acts,  but  of  conformity 
to  a  code.  The  sinfulness  of  a  generation  is  not  to  be 
judged  by  the  code  which  it  recognizes,  but  by  the  close- 
ness with  which  conduct  conforms  to  code.  These 
facts  do  not  free  the  elite  of  society  from  the  duty  of 
testing  existing  standards  by  the  criteria  of  reason 
and  social  experience,  and  of  using  every  agency  of 
social  education  to  raise  the  mores  to  a  level  more  in 
conformity  with  the  principles  of  social  stability  and 
progress ;  but  they  do  furnish  an  antidote  for  pessimism 
as  regards  the  morality  of  one's  own  society. 

In  the  nations  of  western  civilization  a  sufficient  uni- 
formity has  been  achieved  with  reference  to  the  great 
facts  of  the  sexual  life,  so  that  the  fluctuations  and  diver- 
gences in  the  sexual  code  are  confined  mainly  to  those 
less  vital  aspects  of  sexual  sin  which  are  neither  crime 
nor  vice.  Certain  types  of  conduct  are  almost  uni- 
versally recognized  as  vicious,  and  proscribed  by  the 
codes  of  all  modern  societies ;  certain  acts,  arising  from 
the  sexual  motive,  have  been  definitely  prohibited  by 
law,  and  thereby  branded  as  crimes,  by  all  advanced 
states.  It  is  in  the  general  field  of  obscenity,  indecency, 
etc.  that  diversity  of  standard  prevails.  Here  the  con- 
flict goes  on  between  prudery  and  pruriency,  between 
Puritanism  and  Bohemianism,  with  the  victory  some- 
times on  one  side,  sometimes  on  the  other,  and  the  safe 
course  along  the  middle  ground  between. 

Sexual  crime.  As  examples  of  sexual  crimes  may  be 
mentioned  adultery,  incest,  rape,  indecent  exposure, 
and  sexual  indulgence  of  any  form,  or  performed  under 
any  conditions,  proscribed  by  law.  Prostitution  is 


SEXUAL  IMMORALITY  253 

always  vicious ;  it  is  criminal  only  when  carried  on  under 
circumstances  forbidden  by  the  state. 

The  great  underlying  cause  of  sexual  crime  is  the  same 
as  the  fundamental  cause  of  all  sexual  immorality,  viz., 
uncontrolled  sexual  passion,  the  willingness  to  gratify 
individual  desire  regardless  of  the  interests  or  welfare 
of  other  individuals  or  of  society.  The  special  causes 
(race  character,  feeble-mindedness,  proximity  in  board- 
ing houses,  etc.)  which  lead  to  the  gratification  of  desire 
in  criminal,  rather  than  in  other  ways,  are  too  intricate 
to  be  taken  up  in  a  general  review. 

Sexual  vice.  So  powerful  a  natural  desire,  or  instinct, 
as  the  sexual  appetite  inevitably  develops  correlated 
vices.  As  in  the  case  of  other  desires,  implanted  or 
evolved  in  human  nature  for  definite  purposes  con- 
nected with  the  progress  and  perpetuity  of  the  species, 
the  way  is  opened  for  vice  whenever  the  desire  is  grati- 
fied merely  for  the  sake  of  the  attendant  pleasure,  rather 
than  for  the  legitimate  end. 

The  types  of  vice  which  have  grown  up  about  the 
sexual  appetite  are  numerous  and  varied,  of  which  by  far 
the  commonest  and  most  representative  is  prostitution. 
To  a  very  large  extent  the  whole  question  of  sex  vice  in 
modern  societies  centers  about  prostitution,  and  the  facts 
of  prostitution  furnish  a  guide  to  the  general  character 
of  the  allied  evils. 

Prostitution.  An  extraordinary  amount  of  public 
attention  has  been  given,  in  the  last  few  years,  to  the 
question  of  prostitution.  A  number  of  investigations, 
of  a  more  or  less  scientific  character,  have  been  made, 
and  the  literature  on  the  subject  has  grown  to  be  volumi- 
nous. Nevertheless  there  is  still  much  uncertainty  as 
to  the  essential  facts  about  this  evil.  This  uncertainty 


254  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

is  particularly  marked  with  respect  to  the  prevalence 
or  extent  of  prostitution.  Practically  all  investigators 
agree  that  the  evil  is  very  widespread,  especially  in 
Europe,  where  it  is  said  that  participation  in  prostitu- 
tion is  almost  universal  among  men  at  some  time  in 
their  lives.  However,  some  of  the  efforts  to  express 
these  facts  in  figures  result  in  the  most  glaring  absurdities 
and  inconsistencies.  A  striking  illustration  of  the  point 
in  question  is  furnished  by  the  statement  of  Dr.  Charles 
E.  Woodruff,  that  there  must  be  nearly  1,000,000 
prostitutes  in  the  United  States,  and  since  they  live 
on  the  average  only  five  years  after  entering  the  life, 
there  must  be  200,000  deaths  of  prostitutes  every  year. 
A  simple  estimate  of  the  death  rate  among  women  in 
the  United  States,  based  on  Census  figures,  reveals 
the  fact  that  in  the  year  1909  (in  which  Dr.  Woodruff's 
book  was  published)  the  total  number  of  deaths,  in  the 
entire  country,  of  women  between  the  ages  of  fifteen 
and  thirty-nine  was  about  113,500,  or  scarcely  more 
than  half  the  number  set  down  by  Dr.  Woodruff  for 
prostitutes  alone.108 

The  simple  fact  seems  to  be  that  nobody  knows, 
nor  can  know,  the  actual  extent  of  sex  vice  in  any  so- 
ciety, for  the  reason  that  this  is  a  field  of  social  investi- 
gation where  complete  Induction  is  quite  impossible, 
and  where  general  conclusions  must  be  largely  in  the 
nature  of  estimates,  with  a  very  large  margin  of  error. 

It  is  an  open  question  how  much  general  publicity 
should  be  given  even  to  the  well-established  facts  about 
the  extent  of  prostitution;  there  is  no  question  that 
it  is  extremely  unwise  and  socially  injurious  to  spread 
broadcast  exaggerated  estimates  of  the  prevalence 
of  an  evil,  which  is  held  within  bounds  largely  by  the 


SEXUAL  IMMORALITY  255 

belief  that  it  is  discountenanced  by  the  majority  of  the 
members  of  a  society. 

Causes  of  prostitution.  In  seeking  to  analyze  the 
causes  of  prostitution,  recognition  must  be  given  to  its 
two-fold  aspect.  Prostitution  is  a  business,  and  there- 
fore has  two  sides,  demand  and  supply.  The  causes  of 
prostitution  accordingly  divide  themselves  into  two 
groups,  the  causes  of  the  demand  for  prostitutes,  and 
the  causes  of  the  supply  of  prostitutes. 

The  demand  side.  The  ultimate  cause  of  the  demand 
for  prostitution  is  simply  stated,  being  the  same  as  the 
cause  of  sexual  crime,  i.e.  the  willingness  of  men  to 
gratify  sexual  desire  at  the  expense  of  the  welfare  of 
others,  and  in  contravention  of  the  moral  code  of  society. 
The  existence  of  sexual  desire  needs  no  explanation; 
the  only  point  to  be  explained  is  why  men  do  not  hold 
it  under  control.  Here,  too,  the  fundamental  explana- 
tion is  briefly  stated  —  selfishness.  It  is  for  the  psychol- 
ogists and  the  moral  philosophers  to  account  for  the  ex- 
istence of  that  trait  in  human  character ;  the  sociologist 
accepts  it  as  one  of  the  forces  with  which  he  has  to  deal. 

There  are,  however,  certain  factors  which  accentuate 
the  importance  of  the  selfish  sexual  motive,  by  adding 
to  the  difficulty  of  control.  Prominent  among  these 
factors  is  ignorance.  The  belief  is  very  widespread  - 
almost  universal  in  certain  countries  —  that  sexual 
indulgence  is  essential  for  the  health,  or  even  the  life, 
of  a  male  human  being  after  he  passes  a  certain  age. 
This  belief  originated  far  back  in  human  evolution  and 
is  now  thoroughly  traditional,  having  all  the  weight 
and  inertia  which  belong  to  tradition.  In  so  far  as 
this  tradition  forms  a  part  of  the  mental  outfit  of  a 
given  man,  it  must  certainly  add  enormously  to  the 


2  $6  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY' 

difficulty  of  restraining  the  sexual  impulse.  The  gen- 
erality of  mankind  can  hardly  be  expected  to  follow  a 
course  which  promises  to  lead  to  debility  or  death,  nor 
can  they  easily  be  persuaded  that  the  opposite  course 
is  seriously  sinful.  When  medical  practitioners  support 
this  tradition  by  prescribing  sexual  intercourse  as  a 
remedy  for  certain  maladies,  as  was  the  case  not  so 
long  ago  even  in  civilized  countries,  the  bonds  of  self- 
restraint  are  thoroughly  relaxed. 

Within  recent  years  the  progress  of  scientific  investi- 
gation has  made  serious  breaches  in  the  traditional 
bulwarks  of  sex  vice.  It  has  been  scientifically  demon- 
strated that  absolute  continence,  for  both  sexes,  is 
not  only  not  injurious,  but  is  conducive  to  the  highest 
physical  and  mental  vigor.  On  the  basis  of  these  newly 
acquired  facts,  and  in  view  of  the  pernicious  influence 
of  false  beliefs,  a  vigorous  campaign  has  been  begun  for 
general  enlightenment  on  the  subject  of  sex.  The  first 
redoubt  to  be  carried  in  the  prosecution  of  this  campaign 
was  the  traditional  taboo  placed  upon  all  discussion 
of  sexual  affairs,  the  assumption  that  virtue  and  safety 
lay  in  ignorance,  and  ignoring,  of  facts.  This  "  con- 
spiracy of  silence"  yielded  with  surprising  rapidity, 
and  already  there  are  signs  that  a  reaction  has  set  in, 
and  that  people  are  beginning  to  realize  that  anything 
so  well  established  in  the  mores  as  the  sex  taboo  cannot 
be  abandoned  at  a  stroke  without  entailing  unlooked-for 
and  undesired  consequences. 

On  the  whole,  however,  sex  education  has  undoubtedly 
established  itself  as  a  permanent  force  in  social  develop- 
ment ;  the  great  questions  are  how,  when,  and  by  whom 
is  the  education  to  be  conducted?  The  general  feeling 
seems  to  be  that  parents,  when  willing  and  competent, 


SEXUAL  IMMORALITY  257 

are  in  the  best  position  to  deal  with  the  question ;  but 
so  many  parents  are  unqualified  for  the  task,  that 
many  authorities  feel  that  there  should  also  be  sex 
instruction  in  the  public  schools,  given  either  by  regular 
or  special  teachers.  The  whole  matter  is  still  in  the 
experimental  stage,  with  much  promise  of  future  benefits. 
Numerous  features  characteristic  of  modern  life 
hamper  the  exercise  of  adequate  sexual  self-control. 
The  impersonality  of  human  relationships,  particularly 
in  great  cities,  removes  many  of  the  restraining  influ- 
ences which  surround  young  people  in  a  simpler  and  more 
personal  organization  of  society.  The  unmarried  young 
man  or  young  woman  in  the  large  city  is  very  much  his 
own  master,  and  subject  to  very  little  social  supervision 
during  his  leisure  hours.  The  loneliness  and  dissocia- 
tion of  life  in  great  groups  lead  many  a  young  person 
to  seek  companionship  in  ways  which  would  scarcely 
be  thought  of  by  one  surrounded  by  friends.  So  too, 
the  dullness  and  monotony  of  much  of  the  characteristic 
industrial  activity  of  to-day  stimulate  the  desire  for 
excitement  and  adventure  on  the  part  of  young  men  as 
well  as  of  young  women.  The  greater  demands  made 
upon  ambitious  young  men  in  the  way  of  preparation 
for  their  life  work,  together  with  the  other  forces  which 
tend  to  delay  marriage,  extend  the  period  during  which 
morality  demands  continence.  Many  forms  of  diversion 
and  recreation,  sanctioned  or  tolerated  by  modern  so- 
cieties, particularly  the  use  of  alcohol,  tend  to  stimulate 
sexual  passion,  and  to  lead  the  weak-willed  into  vice. 
Finally,  the  highly  commercialized  character  of  modern 
prostitution  causes  those  financially  interested  to  place 
many  artificial  temptations  and  incentives  to  vice  in  the 
way  of  young  people. 


258  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

The  supply  side.  The  causes  operating  on  the  supply 
side  of  prostitution  are  much  more  intricate  and  difficult 
of  analysis  than  those  on  the  demand  side.  However, 
certain  well-founded  conclusions  stand  out  as  a  result 
of  the  numerous  investigations  which  have  been  made. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  general  agreement  that  the 
number  of  so-called  "natural  prostitutes,"  women  whose 
tastes  and  inclinations  predispose  them  to  a  life  of  vice, 
is  relatively  very  small  —  quite  inadequate  to  fill  up 
the  ranks  of  prostitution  as  it  now  exists.  The  great 
majority  of  prostitutes  represent  the  action  of  condi- 
tions involving  compulsion  in  some  form.  Many  of 
these  conditions  are  social,  and  there  is  a  growing  tend- 
ency to  regard  the  typical  prostitute  as  a  social  product. 
Among  the  conditions  which  impel  girls  and  women  into 
prostitution  are  destitute  homes  lacking  the  essentials 
of  decency,  congestion  in  tenements,  lack  of  play  room, 
lack  of  rooms  within  the  home  where  young  women 
may  receive  callers,  immoral  surroundings  during  youth, 
particularly  the  example  of  fast  women  living  in  tene- 
ments and  furnishing  evidence  of  the  possibilities  of  a 
life  of  seeming  luxury  and  ease,  and  numerous  other 
circumstances  which  familiarize  children,  early  in  life, 
with  the  abnormal  aspects  of  sex  life.  The  monotony 
and  strain  of  factory  and  store  employment  turn  young 
girls  out  at  the  end  of  the  day  with  a  highly  stimulated 
craving  for  diversion,  excitement,  and  adventure,  and 
a  weakened  power  of  resistance.  Low  wages  constitute 
a  very  important  —  nobody  knows  quite  how  impor- 
tant —  predisposing  cause  of  vice,  particularly  in  the 
case  of  girls  whose  employment  requires  them  to  keep 
up  their  personal  appearance.  In  the  case  of  depart- 
ment store  clerks,  who  are  continually  handling  luxurious 


SEXUAL  IMMORALITY  259 

fabrics,  and  dealing  with  richly  dressed  customers, 
the  possibilities  of  gratification  involved  in  the  difference 
between  their  weekly  wage  and  the  earnings  of  vice 
are  emphasized.  The  positions  held  by  many  wage- 
earning  girls  inevitably  expose  them  to  the  advances 
of  those  who  seek  to  place  temptation  in  their  way. 

The  emphasis  laid  on  low  wages  as  a  cause  of  vice  has 
aroused  the  resentment  of  some  persons,  who  seem  to 
regard  it  as  an  insult  to  womankind.  In  the  compari- 
son of  actual  earnings  of  $6  a  week,  with  the  estimate  of 
$8  a  week  as  the  minimum  cost  of  a  decent  livelihood  for 
a  single  woman,  these  persons  read  the  implication  that 
a  difference  of  $2  a  week  is  the  price  of  the  virtue  of  the 
average  working  girl.  This  interpretation  of  the  figures 
entirely  misses  the  point.  The  facts  are  not  that 
girls  deliberately  choose  a  life  of  vice  for  the  sake  of  the 
higher  earnings,  but  that  low  wages,  with  the  attendant 
malnutrition,  strain  to  keep  up  appearances,  lack  of 
recreation,  and  general  grayness  and  dreariness  of  life, 
weaken  the  girl's  power  of  resistance  to  the  tempta- 
tions which  are  ever  present  in  the  life  around  her. 
Far  from  furnishing  an  impeachment  of  the  morality 
of  working  girls,  the  facts  —  now  familiar  —  with  refer- 
ence to  working  and  living  conditions  stand  as  striking 
evidence  of  the  persistence  and  firmness  with  which 
the  majority  of  working  girls,  however  small  their  earn- 
ings, withstand  the  insidious  and  cleverly  veiled  tempta- 
tions presented  to  them.  It  is  in  the  hour  of  special 
weariness,  loneliness,  and  nervous  exhaustion,  awaited  by 
the  tempter,  that  an  occasional  girl  takes  the  first  step 
which  eventually  places  her  in  the  ranks  of  prostitution. 

Thus  the  characteristic  organization  of  modern  society 
exhibits  many  features  which  exert  a  form  of  social 


260  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

compulsion,  impelling  girls  and  young  women  in  the 
direction  of  vicious  living.  There  are  other  forms  of 
compulsion  even  more  direct,  such  as  false  promises 
of  marriage  and  mock  marriages,  by  which  women 
are  brought  into  the  power  of  men  who  later  force  them 
into  lives  of  prostitution.  The  climax  of  compulsion 
is  reached,  in  the  conduct  of  the  "white  slave  traffic," 
when  women  are  actually  taken  by  force  and  reduced 
to  a  state  of  virtual  bondage.  Taking  all  these  facts 
into  consideration  there  seems  no  question  that  the 
great  majority  of  prostitutes  are  drawn  into  the  life 
against  their  will,  or  at  least  in  opposition  to  their  innate 
inclinations  and  desires. 

Effects  of  prostitution.  The  effects  of  prostitution 
reach  into  every  department  of  individual  and  social 
life.  The  moral  and  spiritual  effects  are  too  obvious 
to  need  discussion.  The  physical  effects  have  only 
recently  been  fully  comprehended,  but  are  now  under- 
stood more  or  less  clearly  by  a  rapidly  increasing  num- 
ber of  men  and  women.  Some  of  the  most  serious  phys- 
ical effects  are  connected  with  the  venereal  diseases, 
particularly  syphilis  and  gonorrhoea.  Both  of  these 
diseases  are  highly  contagious,  and  very  serious  in  char- 
acter ;  both  are  curable  with  proper  medical  attendance, 
and  extreme  care  on  the  part  of  the  patient ;  but  both 
may  lie  dormant  in  the  system  after  the  superficial 
evidences  have  disappeared,  and  many  years  later  infect 
an  innocent  person.  Syphilis  may  be,  and  occasionally 
is,  contracted  otherwise  than  through  sexual  inter- 
course; gonorrhoea  practically  never.*  The  effects  of 
syphilis  are  more  serious,  on  the  whole,  especially  with 

*  With  occasional  exceptions  in  the  case  of  little  girls,  and,  presum- 
ably, women. 


SEXUAL  IMMORALITY  261 

reference  to  the  second  and  third  generations,  but  gonor- 
rhoea is  a  much  more  prevalent  disease  and  consequently 
occasions  probably  a  greater  total  amount  of  suffering. 
The  ravages  of  this  latter  disease  are  only  beginning 
to  be  fully  comprehended ;  the  estimates  concerning 
them  are  startling.  It  is  said,  for  instance,  that  eighty 
per  cent  of  all  children  blind  from  birth,  and  thirty  per 
cent  of  all  adult  blindness  is  chargeable  to  this  disease, 
as  are  sixty  per  cent  of  all  surgical  abdominal  opera- 
tions peculiar  to  women,  and  nearly  sixty  per  cent  of  all 
involuntary  sterile  marriages.109  There  is  no  question 
that  the  growing  knowledge  on  the  part  of  married 
women  with  reference  to  the  facts  of  venereal  disease  is 
a  very  frequent  cause  of  divorce,  though  other  grounds 
may  be  specified  in  the  complaint.  According  to  French 
law,  infection  with  a  venereal  disease  by  either  party 
to  a  marriage  is  ground  for  divorce  for  the  other. 

Quite  apart  from  the  consequences  of  prostitution  to 
the  individual,  the  social  effects  of  this  vice,  in  the  way 
of  broken  families,  wasted  resources,  and  neglected 
children  are  so  great  as  fully  to  justify  society  in  putting 
into  operation  whatever  forms  of  control  promise  im- 
provement. 

Treatment  of  prostitution.  The  causes  of  prostitution 
suggest  the  possibilities  of  betterment.  In  so  far  as 
ignorance  is  a  cause  either  of  demand  or  supply,  the 
obvious  remedy  is  education.  As  already  observed, 
much  faith  has  been  given  in  recent  years  to  educational 
measures  as  a  remedy  for  sex  vice.  But  there  are  obvious 
limits  to  the  efficacy  of  this  expedient.  On  the  demand 
side,  while  a  knowledge  of  the  possible  consequences  of 
vice  may  deter  a  few  (the  deterrent  effects  of  Nature's 
punishments,  as  of  man's,  are  likely  to  be  exaggerated), 


262  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

there  is,  on  the  other  hand,  the  growing  knowledge 
of  the  prophylactic  measures  by  which  safety  may  be 
achieved.  Thus  education  is  a  two-edged  sword  that 
cuts  both  ways.  Probably  in  the  long  run  education 
will  do  more  to  check  the  demand  for  prostitution  than 
to  increase  it ;  but  certainly  education  alone  will  never 
prove  an  adequate  remedy  for  the  evil  on  its  demand 
side.  For,  as  Doctor  Cabot  once  observed  in  a  public 
address,  if  education  were  all  that  is  needed  to  prevent 
immorality,  the  students  in  a  medical  college  should 
be  the  most  moral  group  of  young  men  in  the  world, 
since  they  have  all  the  facts;  experience,  however, 
proves  this  not  to  be  the  case. 

On  the  supply  side,  while  ignorance  undoubtedly 
operates  as  an  important  cause,  the  influence  of  tradi- 
tional false  beliefs  is  relatively  of  much  less  significance 
than  on  the  demand  side,  and  the  scope  of  education 
is  therefore  more  restricted.  There  is,  nevertheless, 
much  to  be  gained  by  wisely  instructing  girls  and  young 
women  in  matters  of  sex. 

Another  type  of  remedy,  social  in  its  nature,  aims  to 
correct  or  remove  those  environing  conditions  which 
increase  the  difficulty  of  adequate  self-control  and 
multiply  the  incentives  to  vice.  An  examination  of 
these  conditions  reveals  the  fact  that  many  of  them  are 
normal  aspects  of  our  existing  social  organization,  and 
therefore  not  readily  subject  to  alteration.  Yet  there 
is  unquestionably  much  opportunity  for  the  application 
of  social  control  in  removing  some  of  the  predis- 
posing causes  of  vice,  particularly  the  artificial  tempta- 
tions and  stimuli  which  increase  the  demand,  and  the 
degrading  living  and  working  conditions  which  add  to 
the  supply. 


SEXUAL  IMMORALITY  263 

A  quite  different  type  of  remedy  recognizes  prostitu- 
tion as  "the  necessary  evil"  and  simply  seeks  to  reduce 
it  to  minimum  proportions,  to  eliminate  unnecessary 
bad  features,  and  to  keep  the  undesirable  consequences 
within  the  smallest  possible  compass.  Measures  of 
this  sort  involve  state  action,  and  bring  certain  aspects 
of  prostitution  into  the  category  of  crime.  Examples 
of  this  class  of  expedient  are  the  various  plans  for  segrega- 
tion or  regulation.  Much  heated  controversy  has  raged 
around  the  question  of  the  expediency  and  moral  justi- 
fiability of  measures  of  this  sort.  The  two  chief  objec- 
tions are,  first,  that  state  recognition  of  prostitution  is 
morally  reprehensible  and  pernicious  in  its  effect,  and 
second,  that  these  devices  cannot  be  put  into  efficient 
operation  and  are  not  adequate  to  secure  the  results 
desired.  Thus  in  Paris,  where  prostitution  is  supposed 
to  be  well  regulated,  there  are  said  to  be  from  50,000 
to  60,000  prostitutes,  but  only  6000  regulated ;  out 
of  20,000  to  30,000  prostitutes  in  Berlin  only  3300  are 
registered.110  The  general  trend  of  enlightened  opinion 
appears  to  be  in  the  direction  of  complete  abandonment 
of  state  regulation  as  a  satisfactory  method  of  dealing 
with  prostitution. 

There  seems  to  be  no  escape  from  the  conclusion  that, 
on  the  demand  side  at  least,  the  question  of  prostitution 
is  essentially  a  moral  problem,  to  be  treated  effectively 
only  by  those  agencies  in  society  which  are  fitted  to 
deal  with  moral  and  ethical  questions.*  After  all 
has  been  done  that  can  be  done  in  the  way  of  education, 
social  amelioration,  and  official  control,  the  major  part 
of  the  task  will  still  remain  to  be  accomplished.  This 
part  of  the  task  is  two-fold  :  the  establishment  of  a  higher 
*  See  pages  36-37. 


264  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

social  standard  —  involving  the  abandonment  of  the 
traditional  "double  standard,"  —  and  the  elimination 
of  that  phase  of  selfishness  in  human  character  which 
induces  men  to  gratify  sexual  appetites  in  ways  prejudi- 
cial to  the  interests  of  other  individuals  or  of  society. 

As  far  as  the  supply  of  prostitutes  is  concerned,  an 
abolition  of  demand  would  automatically  reduce  supply 
to  an  almost  negligible  minimum;  and  this  is  appar- 
ently the  only  way  in  which  the  supply  can  be  materially 
reduced.  A  demand  so  extensive  and  insistent  as  that 
which  now  exists  is  bound  to  be  met,  if  not  in  one  way, 
then  in  another.  So  that  while  social  expedients  of  a 
protective  and  preventive  nature  are  of  great  utility 
on  the  supply  side  of  prostitution,  yet  it  is  futile  to  hope 
that  prostitution  can  be  abolished  by  checking  the 
supply;  the  issue  still  remains  essentially  ethical  and 
moral.  The  marked  success  recently  achieved  by  some 
cities  in  expelling  the  prostitutes  is  in  itself  the  result 
of  moral  awakening,  not  of  the  mere  application  of  a 
social  expedient  which  would  be  equally  efficacious 
anywhere. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE    CHILD 

Modern  recognition  of  the  importance  of  the  child.  The 
twentieth  century  has  been  styled  the  "century  of  the 
child,"  and  certainly  nowhere  is  the  spirit  of  the  modern 
social  consciousness  more  clearly  revealed  than  in  pres- 
ent-day ideas  and  customs  with  reference  to  children. 

The  characteristic  feature  of  the  advanced  social  atti- 
tude toward  children  is  the  clear  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  the  rising  generation  contains,  in  embryo,  all  the 
possibilities  of  the  society  of  the  future,  and  that  there- 
fore no  question  is  of  greater  importance  to  society  than 
the  character  and  nurture  of  its  children.  Because  so- 
cieties are  potentially  immortal,  the  immediate  inter- 
ests of  any  given  generation  are  of  almost  infinitesimal 
importance  as  compared  with  the  enduring  interests  of 
society  itself.  Therefore  the  rights  of  society  to  direct 
and  control  the  development  of  each  new  generation  rise 
paramount  to  those  of  any  individuals  in  the  older 
generation;  parents  are  not  now  recognized  as  having 
any  rights  over  their  children  which  run  counter  to  the 
interests  of  society  as  represented  by  the  true  welfare 
of  the  children  themselves. 

Child  protection.  To  be  sure  this  principle  is  only  be- 
ginning to  win  universal  acceptance,  and  consequently 
to  be  embodied  in  the  legal  enactments  of  various  states. 
Nevertheless,  some  noteworthy  steps  have  already  been 

265 


266  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

taken.  Witness  the  neglect  law  of  Massachusetts,  one 
of  the  most  advanced  states  of  the  Union  as  regards 
social  legislation.  The  section  of  this  law  denning 
criminal  neglect  of  children  is  worthy  of  quotation  at 
length : 

"Any  parent,  whether  father  or  mother,  who  deserts  or  wil- 
fully neglects  or  refuses  to  provide  for  the  support  and  mainte- 
nance of  his  or  her  child  or  children  under  the  age  of  sixteen,  or 
whose  minor  child  by  reason  of  the  neglect,  cruelty,  drunkenness, 
habits  of  crime  or  other  vice  of  such  parent  is  growing  up  without 
education,  or  without  salutary  control,  or  without  proper  physical 
care,  or  in  circumstances  exposing  such  child  to  lead  an  idle  and 
dissolute  life,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  crime."  m 

What  a  change  from  the  days  of  the  "patria  potestas !" 
Children  are  no  longer  considered  to  "belong  to"  the 
parents.  There  could  scarcely  be  a  more  striking  exam- 
ple of  the  trend  of  modern  social  philosophy  than  this 
intrusion  of  social  control  into  the  final  stronghold  of 
natural  rights  and  individual  liberty.  It  would  be  hard 
to  conceive  of  any  untoward  condition  in  the  home 
environment  of  a  child  which  really  threatened  his  future 
usefulness  to  society  which  could  not  be  brought  within 
the  meaning  of  the  foregoing  statute,  and  hence  become 
a  matter  for  social  interference.  In  practice,  Massa- 
chusetts does  not  hesitate  to  break  up,  temporarily  or 
permanently,  families  which  cannot,  by  any  other 
means,  be  reshaped  into  fit  homes  for  children;  the 
removal  of  children  from  the  so-called  home,  by  court 
order,  is  an  efficacious  expedient  in  the  hands  of  those 
agencies  entrusted  with  the  enforcement  of  the  neglect 
law. 

The  control  of  child  labor.  One  of  the  earliest  manifes- 
tations of  the  new  conception  of  the  child  may  be  traced 


THE   CHILD  267 

in  the  revolt  which  arose  in  the  first  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth centuiy  against  the  conditions  which  resulted 
from  the  exploitation  of  child  labor  under  a  system  of 
laissez  faire.  The  story  is  a  familiar  one.  The  intro- 
duction of  the  factory  system,  particularly  in  England, 
created  an  extensive  and  vigorous  demand  for  the  labor 
of  children  in  industrial  pursuits.  This  demand  was  met 
largely  from  the  almshouse  and  orphanage  population. 
In  the  absence  of  social  control,  the  play  of  economic 
forces  reduced  the  living  and  working  conditions  of  these 
children  to  a  degree  of  misery,  vice,  and  degradation 
almost  incredible  to  the  modern  mind.  The  hours  of 
labor  for  little  children  were  twelve,  fourteen,  and  even 
more  per  day.  The  squalor  and  wretchedness  of  their 
dwellings  can  be  grasped  only  by  the  reading  of  contempo- 
rary accounts.  The  physical,  mental,  and  moral  effects 
were  immediate  and  appalling.  In  half  a  century  there 
was  produced  "a  race  of  pale,  stunted,  and  emaciated 
creatures,  irregular  in  their  lives  and  dissolute  in  their 
habits."  Their  case  appeared  so  desperate  that  for 
those  who  believed  in  laissez  faire,  "'the  only  hope,'  as 
Harriet  Martineau  confessed,  'seems  to  be  that  the  race 
will  die  out  in  two  or  three  generations.' "  112 

The  demonstration  of  the  disastrous  effects  of  the 
unregulated  employment  of  children  was  complete.  Yet 
so  great  was  the  prestige  of  the  let-alone  philosophy 
that,  even  in  the  face  of  such  visible  evidence,  the  progress 
of  reform  was  exceedingly  slow.  It  took  twenty-five 
years  of  legislation  to  restrict  a  child  of  nine  to  sixty- 
nine  hours  of  work  a  week,  and  that  only  in  the  cotton 
mills.113  From  this  simple  beginning  the  process  of  ex- 
tending social  control  over  the  labor  of  children  in  in- 
dustry has  gone  on  at  an  accelerating  pace,  until  to-day 


268  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

every  modern  society  has  on  its  statute  books  an  elabo- 
rate set  of  regulations  with  reference  to  child  labor.  Not 
only  has  the  legal  working  day  been  progressively  short- 
ened, but  the  minimum  age  at  which  children  may  enter 
ordinary  wage-earning  occupations  has  been  strictly 
defined.  In  the  United  States,  most  of  the  States  have 
adopted  the  age  limit  of  fourteen  years  for  most  lines  of 
employment,  sometimes  with  an  extension  to  sixteen 
years  in  case  a  minimum  amount  of  schooling  has  not 
been  secured. 

Thus  in  his  home  and  at  his  work  the  twentieth 
century  child  is  surrounded  by  social  protection  against 
positive  abuse  and  exploitation.  But  the  modern  society 
does  not  stop  here.  The  need  is  also  recognized  for 
measures  designed  for  the  encouragement  and  develop- 
ment of  the  latent  powers  and  talents  of  the  child, 
mental,  moral,  and  physical.  Free  compulsory  educa- 
tion is  rapidly  becoming  universal.  Particularly  in  the 
case  of  younger  children,  the  old  policy  of  restraint  and 
coercion  is  being  abandoned  in  favor  of  an  environment 
calculated  to  foster  natural  growth  and  self-expression. 
If  this  tendency  sometimes  goes  to  foolish  extremes,  it 
does  not  differ  in  this  respect  from  practically  all  pro- 
gressive movements. 

Juvenile  delinquency.  Thus  the  growing  recognition 
of  the  importance  of  the  child,  and  the  responsibility 
of  society  for  his  nurture,  has  caused  numerous  additions 
to  the  category  of  crimes  against  children.  The  same 
forces  have  also  completely  revolutionized  the  social 
conception  of  the  crimes  of  children,  and  the  social  atti- 
tude toward  the  child  criminal.  This  change  is  exem- 
plified in  the  imputation  of  an  entirely  different  sort  of 
responsibility  to  children  than  to  adults.  Under  an  older 


THE  CHILD  269 

conception  of  crime,  when  the  attention  of  jurists  was  fo- 
cussed  on  the  act  rather  than  on  the  agent,  a  crime  was 
a  crime,  by  whomsoever  committed,  and  a  given  crime 
must  be  accorded  a  given  punishment.  Thus  young 
children  were  thrown  in  indiscriminately  with  hardened 
offenders,  and  the  same  treatment  was  meted  out  to  all. 
We  are  gradually  learning  that  the  old-fashioned  methods 
of  punishment,  whatever  their  efficacy  when  applied 
to  adults,  are  the  surest  possible  means  of  making  crimi- 
nals when  applied  to  children.  The  modern  penology, 
centering  its  attention  upon  the  criminal  rather  than  the 
crime,  and  adopting  individualization  of  punishment  as 
its  guiding  principle,  recognizes  that  good  results  can  be 
achieved  only  by  the  adoption  of  a  set  of  correctional 
expedients  specifically  designed  for  young  offenders, 
and  adapted  to  juvenile  character. 

The  concrete  embodiment  of  the  foregoing  principles 
is  found  in  the  juvenile  delinquency  laws  and  the  juve- 
nile court  system  of  modern  states.  The  word  "delin- 
quency" is  significant.  The  child  is  no  longer  regarded 
as  a  criminal,  but  as  one  who  has  gone  astray,  or  one 
who  lacks  guidance  or  control.  The  idea  of  punishment, 
in  its  strict  sense,  has  been  entirely  abandoned  in  the 
treatment  of  juvenile  offenders.  The  goal  aimed  at  is 
reformation,  the  creation  of  new  ideals,  and  the  re-direc- 
tion of  energies.  Probation  is  the  soul  of  the  modern 
treatment  of  youthful  offenders. 

The  juvenile  court.  The  first  juvenile  court  was  es- 
tablished in  Chicago  in  1899,  though  Massachusetts 
had  taken  steps  in  that  direction  in  1869  by  granting  de- 
linquent children  separate  trials,  and  placing  them  with 
private  societies  instead  of  in  jails  and  prisons.  The 
Denver  court,  perhaps  the  most  famous  juvenile  court 


270  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

in  the  world,  followed  soon  after  the  Chicago  venture. 
Since  then  the  juvenile  court  movement  has  spread  with 
remarkable  rapidity,  both  hi  the  United  States  and  other 
countries.  The  characteristic  features  of  juvenile  court 
procedure  are  the  following.  First,  separate  trials  and 
separate  judges.  Where  the  system  is  fully  developed, 
there  is  a  court  entirely  given  over  to  juvenile  cases; 
in  other  instances,  a  special  day  or  days  are  set  aside  for 
the  hearing  of  such  cases.  Preferably,  a  specially  trained 
judge  gives  all  his  time  to  work  with  children ;  otherwise 
regular  judges  are  assigned  to  this  work  for  stated  peri- 
ods. Second,  private  hearings.  There  is  absolutely 
no  publicity  attending  a  properly  conducted  juvenile 
case.  Either  those  immediately  concerned  withdraw  to 
the  judge's  private  room,  or,  if  the  hearing  is  held  in  the 
court  room,  those  connected  with  the  case  gather  about 
the  judge's  desk,  and  the  hearing  is  conducted  in  a  low 
tone  of  voice  which  conveys  no  information  to  by- 
standers or  court  loafers.  Third,  the  effort  is  made  to 
secure  facts  and  devise  remedies  rather  than  to  convict 
and  punish.  First  of  all  the  judge  seeks  to  gain  the  con- 
fidence of  the  child,  and  to  secure  from  him  and  others  a 
correct  notion  of  the  exact  nature  of  the  difficulty.  Then 
the  judge,  on  the  basis  of  his  knowledge  and  experience, 
endeavors  to  hit  upon  the  treatment  of  the  young  delin- 
quent which  will  be  most  efficacious  in  leading  him  back 
into  law-abiding  and  orderly  ways.  The  capable  judge 
is  one  who  can  establish  this  relationship  of  confidence 
and  trust  without  in  the  least  diminishing  the  sense  of 
solemnity  and  gravity  which  should  characterize  the 
procedure  in  order  to  impress  the  child  with  the  serious- 
ness of  the  situation.  Fourth,,  probational  treatment  of 
the  child.  The  basic  idea  of  juvenile  procedure  is  that 


THE  CHILD  271 

ordinarily  the  young  delinquent  needs,  not  punishment, 
and  certainly  not  punishment  by  imprisonment,  but 
expert  and  careful  supervision  and  guidance.  Usually 
the  child  is  allowed  to  return  to  his  parents,  but  is 
placed  on  probation  and  required  to  report  from  tune  to 
time.  The  probation  officer  is  of  hardly  secondary  im- 
portance to  the  judge  in  the  modern  treatment  of  juve- 
nile delinquents.  The  qualifications  for  a  competent 
probation  officer  are  extremely  high,  while  the  service 
rendered  to  the  community  is  great  enough  to  attract 
men  of  a  very  fine  type. 

The  juvenile  court  system  is  amply  justified  by  its  re- 
sults. Instead  of  turning  venturesome,  reckless,  or  way- 
ward boys  and  girls  into  hardened  criminals  and  enemies 
of  society,  as  was  so  often  the  case  under  the  old  fash- 
ioned procedure,  the  modern  methods  have  succeeded, 
in  a  high  percentage  of  cases,  in  working  real  reformation. 
The  influence  of  the  juvenile  court  in  preventing  delin- 
quency is  also  noteworthy. 

In  addition  to  the  official  agencies  established  by  mod- 
ern states  to  protect,  control,  and  develop  children  there 
is  a  vast  array  of  private  societies  and  agencies  devoted 
to  the  promotion  of  the  welfare  of  children.  Such  are 
the  societies  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  children, 
children's  aid  societies,  children's  missions,  etc.  Under 
the  best  conditions,  a  very  helpful  spirit  of  cooperation 
exists,  not  only  between  the  various  private  agencies, 
but  between  them  and  the  official  agencies,  by  which 
waste  of  effort  and  duplication  are  avoided,  and  efficiency 
of  service  secured. 

Play.  Another  sign  of  the  times  is  the  widespread 
recognition  of  the  right  of  the  child  to  play,  and  the  in- 
creasing provision  for  the  fulfillment  of  that  right.  Here, 


272  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

again,  both  public  and  private  agencies  are  united,  though 
the  need  of  provision  for  play  is  now  becoming  so  com- 
pletely recognized  as  a  social  responsibility  that  the  play- 
ground movement  is  passing  increasingly  into  the  realm 
of  government,  particularly  municipal  governments. 

The  foregoing  discussion  is  merely  suggestive  of  the 
manifold  ways  in  which  society  recognizes  the  claim  of 
the  child  to  consideration  and  care.  A  hundred  other 
instances  might  be  mentioned,  such  as  the  formation 
of  the  Federal  Children's  Bureau  of  the  United  States, 
the  growth  of  the  pure  milk  movement,  the  spread  of 
education  for  motherhood,  and  the  special  attention 
of  visiting  nurses  to  child  welfare. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  all  this  solicitude  for  the  wel- 
fare and  development  of  the  child  arises  not  only  because 
we  have  grown  more  humanitarian,  but  because  we  have 
grown  more  scientific.  It  is  realized  that  the  laws  of 
cause  and  effect  operate  in  the  social  realm  as  well  as  in 
the  material,  and  that  every  unfavorable  environing  con- 
dition which  surrounds  the  child  of  to-day  will  have 
its  inevitable  influence  upon  the  society  of  to-morrow. 
That  marvelous  trait  of  human  character  which  causes 
the  welfare  of  future  generations  to  operate  as  a  powerful 
motive  in  the  conduct  of  the  present  generation,  inspires 
the  majority  of  men  and  women  to  forego  some  of  their 
own  immediate  and  personal  interests  in  order  that 
society  may  progress. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

REVOLUTIONARY   SCHEMES   OF   BETTERMENT 

Two  revolutionary  schemes.  To  remedy  inclusively 
the  evils  which  characterize  our  present  social  organiza- 
tion in  the  realm  of  marriage  and  the  family,  two  revolu- 
tionary schemes  of  betterment  have  been  advocated. 

Feminism.  The  first  of  these  schemes  is  what  has 
come  to  be  known  as  feminism,  or  the  woman  movement. 
Stripped  of  all  non-essentials,  this  movement  appears  as 
an  effort  to  place  the  female  sex  upon  a  plane  of  essen- 
tial identity  with  the  male  sex  as  regards  social  rights, 
prerogatives,  obligations,  and  duties.  In  an  earlier  day 
its  aim  used  to  be  considered  as  the  securing  of  "equal 
rights"  for  women.  But  the  fact  is  that  the  past 
century  or  two  have  seen  women  endowed  with  social 
rights  in  some  respects  superior  to  those  of  men.  This  is 
particularly  true  of  married  women.  For,  as  has  been 
observed,  the  woman  who  is  taken  by  a  man  in  marriage 
is  thereby  relieved  of  all  responsibility  for  her  own  finan- 
cial support  or  for  that  of  her  children,  so  long  as  she 
conducts  herself  with  sufficient  conformity  to  the  mores 
to  give  her  husband  no  ground  for  terminating  the  mari- 
tal bond.  Briefly,  she  has  the  right  to  demand  mainte- 
nance from  her  husband  as  long  as  he  shall  live.  What 
wider  right  than  this  can  be  conceived?  Beside  the 
right  to  shift  the  primary  burden  of  life  to  the  shoulders 
of  another,  such  matters  as  the  lack  of  the  suffrage  dwindle 
T  273 


274  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

to  insignificance.  It  is  true,  of  course,  that  this  right  is 
limited  to  married  women ;  but  it  is  with  reference  to 
the  marriage  relation  that  the  inequality  of  rights,  so 
much  complained  of,  mainly  exists.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  the  rights  to  vote  and  hold  office,  the  rights  of  the 
unmarried  woman  are  virtually  the  same  as  those  of  the 
unmarried  man,  in  modern  societies ;  on  the  other  hand 
women  enjoy  many  exemptions. 

Within  recent  years  it  has  become  plain  that  what  is 
wanted  by  the  leaders  of  the  woman  movement  is  not 
equal  rights,  but  identical  rights.  And  since  the  more 
level-headed  feminists  are  logical  enough  to  see  that  all 
rights  are,  and  must  be,  correlated  with  duties,  the  more 
convincing  branch  of  the  feminist  propaganda  demands 
also  that  social  duties  and  responsibilities,  identical  with 
those  of  men,  be  placed  upon  women. 

There  is  no  question  that  the  woman  movement  de- 
serves the  term  revolutionary.  It  sets  out  to  overthrow 
social  institutions,  usages,  and  conventions  which  have 
been  produced  by  the  action  of  evolutionary  forces 
during  countless  thousands  of  years.  All  the  limitations, 
handicaps,  and  restrictions,  all  the  favors,  chivalries,  and 
exemptions  which  have  marked  woman's  lot  are  to  be 
swept  away  at  a  stroke.  Woman  is  henceforth  to  walk 
life's  path  alongside  of  man,  supporting  an  equal  share  of 
the  burden  of  existence,  asking  no  consideration,  and 
accepting  no  impositions. 

Time  would  fail  to  examine,  or  even  enumerate,  all  of 
the  specific  proposals  that  have  been  made  for  the  con- 
summation of  the  aims  of  feminism.  Uniforms  for 
women,  short  hair,  surnames  for  women  to  be  taken 
from  the  mother  (an  expedient  which,  as  some  one  has 
pointed  out,  would  logically  lead  to  calling  all  men 


REVOLUTIONARY    SCHEMES  275 

Adam  and  all  women  Eve),  are  only  some  of  the  more 
fantastic  and  unessential  of  the  changes  advocated. 
More  serious  are  the  proposals  that  equal  wages  for  men 
and  women  in  the  same  occupation  should  be  enforced 
by  law ;  that  the  grounds  for  divorce  should  be  identical 
for  both  sexes ;  that  property  rights  should  be  the  same 
for  men  and  women ;  that  the  dual  standard  of  sex  mo- 
rality should  be  abandoned ;  that  political  rights,  both 
as  to  voting  and  holding  office,  should  be  identical ;  that 
women  should  be  under  the  same  obligation  to  render 
service,  of  the  sort  they  are  best  qualified  to  give,  in  times 
of  war,  as  are  men ;  that  the  burden  of  taxation  should 
rest  equally  upon  both  sexes ;  and  that  the  financial  obli- 
gation of  the  married  woman  for  the  support  of  the 
family  should  be  identical  with  that  of  her  husband. 

The  basic  weakness  of  feminism.  Many  of  these  pro- 
posals are  either  too  trivial  or  too  absurd  to  merit  detailed 
examination,  but  others,  such  as  the  demand  for  politi- 
cal equality,  and  divided  marital  responsibility,  are 
worthy  of  the  most  serious  and  careful  consideration. 
Throughout  them  all  is  to  be  discerned  the  struggle  of  the 
modern  woman  for  complete  emancipation,  a  struggle 
all  the  more  energetic  because  she  is  already  so  largely 
emancipated.  What  has  already  been  accomplished 
both  stimulates  the  desire  and  enhances  the  possibility 
of  complete  achievement.  Many  steps  in  this  emanci- 
pation movement  seem  relatively  easy,  or  even  certain,  of 
accomplishment.  But  there  is  one  great  phase  of  the 
question  that  gives  us  pause.  A  careful  analysis  of  the 
changes  desired  by  the  feminists  reveals  the  fact  that 
what  the  modern  woman  is  seeking,  in  many  of  her  ad- 
vanced endeavors,  is  really,  at  bottom,  emancipation 
from  the  special  limitations  and  handicaps  placed  upon 


276  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

her  by  her  sex  and  the  fulfillment  of  her  sexual  functions. 
For  it  is  just  these  limitations  which,  in  the  course  of 
social  evolution,  have  placed  her  in  the  position  of  in- 
feriority which  she  now  resents. 

Inherent  sex  differences.  One  of  the  most  heated  of  all 
feminist  controversies  rages  around  the  question  as  to 
just  what  are  the  inherent  characteristics  of  the  female 
sex.  On  the  one  hand  it  is  asserted  that  all  the  traits 
which  we  think  of  as  distinctively  feminine  are  really 
sexual  characters;  on  the  other  hand  it  is  maintained 
that  most  of  these  features  are  merely  the  product  of  ages 
of  cultivation,  discipline,  and  sexual  selection,  and  that 
men  and  women  are  by  nature  practically  identical 
except  for  the  reproductive  system.  There  is  little 
hope  that  this  problem  will  ever  be  conclusively  solved. 
We  cannot  unravel  the  evolutionary  skein  any  more  than 
we  can  unscramble  the  proverbial  egg.  Men  and 
women  are  what  they  are  to-day,  and  it  can  be  little  more 
than  calisthenics  for  the  imagination  to  seek  to  determine 
what  they  might  have  been  if  all  social  evolution  had  been 
different.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that,  in  response 
to  the  claim  that  women  were  originally  the  equals  of 
men  in  every  way,  the  query  inevitably  arises,  why,  if 
that  is  so,  did  women  ever  allow  themselves  to  be  put 
in  such  a  position  of  inferiority,  and  permit  man  to  make 
woman  just  what  he  wanted  her  to  be,  as  the  feminists 
maintain  ? 

The  great  fact  of  nature  which  underlies  the  whole 
discussion  is  simply  that  reproduction  means  a  very 
different  thing  to  woman  than  to  man.  While  the  con- 
tribution of  each  sex,  at  the  moment  of  conception,  is 
of  equal  importance  in  determining  the  character  of  the 
offspring,  from  that  moment  on,  the  significance  of  re- 


REVOLUTIONARY   SCHEMES  277 

production,  and  the  influence  of  the  parent  upon  the  de- 
veloping embryo,  are  altogether  different  for  the  two  sexes. 
In  the  case  of  the  man,  the  reproductive  act  has  no  per- 
manent consequences,  nor  does  his  future  life  directly 
affect  the  offspring.  He  may  die  immediately  after 
impregnation  without  influencing  the  character  of  the 
new  individual.  The  case  is  radically  different  with  the 
woman.  Not  only  does  her  part  in  reproduction  unfit 
or  handicap  her  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  for  other  ac- 
tivities, but  also  the  influence  upon  the  offspring  of  her 
manner  of  life,  her  health,  and  her  state  of  mind,  not 
only  during  the  actual  period  of  reproduction,  but  for  all 
her  life  before  and  a  considerable  period  after,  is  such 
that  society  cannot  permit  her  entire  freedom  to  engage 
in  various  activities  or  occupations  at  will.  This  fact 
underlies  all  modern  legislation  limiting  or  controlling 
the  occupational  activities  of  women. 

Here  lies  the  great  obstacle  in  the  path  of  feminism. 
Either  some  means  must  be  discovered  to  equalize  the 
reciprocal  influence  between  parent  and  child  in  the  case 
of  the  male  and  female  parent,  or  else  society  must  allow 
women  to  follow  their  own  volition  in  their  activities, 
irrespective  of  the  effects  upon  the  child.  To  adopt  the 
latter  expedient  would  be  to  reverse  the  direction  of  social 
evolution,  which,  as  has  been  seen,  tends  more  and  more 
to  mold  social  institutions  in  the  interest  of  the  child ; 
there  is  no  indication  that  society  is  ready  to  take  this 
backward  step.  Likewise,  there  is  no  ground  for  sup- 
posing that  the  laws  of  nature  are  to  be  abrogated,  as 
implied  in  the  former  alternative.  Feminists  have  not 
yet  proposed,  and  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  they 
ever  can  propose,  an  adequate  method  of  meeting  this 
dilemma. 


278  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

Woman  suffrage.  With  the  foregoing  principles  in 
mind,  attention  may  be  turned  to  one  or  two  of  the  more 
important  specific  feminist  proposals.  In  the  front 
rank,  of  course,  stands  the  suffrage  question,  which  for 
many  years  has  been  the  nucleus  and  rallying-point  of 
the  growing  feminist  movement,  partly  because  it  is 
concrete  and  definite,  and  partly  because  it  is  the  chief 
of  the  recognized  rights  which  are  still  different  for  the 
unmarried  man  and  the  unmarried  woman. 

Arguments  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage.  The  arguments 
in  favor  of  woman  suffrage  fall  into  three  main  classes : 

(1)  Women  have  a  natural  right  to  vote,  equal  to  that  of 
men,  and  justice  demands  that  the  vote  be  given  them. 

(2)  Woman  suffrage  will  improve  society.     (3)  Woman 
suffrage  will  improve  woman. 

Natural  rights.  The  first  of  the  foregoing  groups  of 
arguments  admits  of  no  discussion.  The  whole  idea  of 
natural  rights  is  now  pretty  completely  abandoned  by 
sociologists,  and  even  if  it  is  granted  that  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  a  natural  right,  it  is  not  a  subject  for  argument. 
Since  the  idea  of  natural  rights  rests  entirely  upon  intui- 
tion or  introspection,  there  is  no  possibility  of  reaching 
an  agreement  as  to  an  enumeration  of  natural  rights  or  a 
decision  as  to  whether  a  given  prerogative  is  a  natural 
right  or  not.  For  what  one  person  intuitively  recognizes 
as  a  natural  right  will  not  be  so  recognized  by  another 
person,  and  one  man's  (or  woman's)  intuition  is  just  as 
good  as  another's.  To  those  who  believe  in  natural 
rights,  and  who  believe  that  the  right  of  women  to  vote 
is  one  of  them,  there  is  no  occasion  for  further  discussion ; 
the  question  for  them  is  settled.  For  others,  there  is  no 
profit  in  discussion,  for  it  would  not  convince  them. 

A  somewhat  modified  form  of  the  rights  argument  is 


REVOLUTIONARY   SCHEMES  279 

the  assertion  that  since  women  own  property  and  engage 
in  industrial  work  they  should  have  the  right  to  help 
shape  the  laws  which  govern  property  and  regulate  the 
conditions  of  labor.  This  argument  either  proves 
nothing,  or  it  proves  too  much.  For  children  of  both 
sexes,  from  fourteen  years  of  age  up,  engage  in  indus- 
trial pursuits,  and  according  to  the  argument  should 
also  be  given  the  vote.  To  reply  that  there  are  special 
reasons  why  children  should  not  have  the  vote,  simply 
opens  the  way  for  the  counter-assertion  that  there  are 
special  reasons  why  women  should  not  have  the  vote, 
thus  neutralizing  the  argument  in  question. 

The  superiority  of  women.  Many,  if  not  most,  of  the 
arguments  under  the  second  head  rest  upon  the  asser- 
tion or  implication  that  women  are  inherently  better 
than  men,  and  that  therefore  the  entrance  of  women  into 
political  life  would  tend  to  "purify  politics,"  reduce 
corruption,  improve  municipal  conditions,  and  elimi- 
nate various  evils  which  arise  from  bad  government  — 
including  slushy  sidewalks,  according  to  one  indignant 
owner  of  "several  pairs  of  white  high-laced  boots."114 
This  type  of  assertion,  like  the  foregoing,  admits  of  no 
discussion,  or  at  least  of  no  verification.  There  is  no 
possibility  of  either  proving  or  disproving  the  inherent 
superiority  of  women,  and  therefore  no  possibility  of  sub- 
stantiating claims  based  on  this  assumption. 

A  somewhat  different  argument  for  the  salutory  influ- 
ence of  women  on  political  life  rests  upon  the  fact  that 
women  represent  a  different  set  of  interests,  and  a  differ- 
ent psychological  element  in  the  population,  from  men, 
and  therefore  would  bring  a  wider  variety  of  tests  to  the 
judgment  of  public  questions.  It  is  asserted  in  particular 
that  women  are  more  sensitive  and  sympathetic  with 


28o  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

respect  to  the  welfare  of  children,  working  women,  the 
sanctity  of  the  home,  etc.,  than  are  men,  and  that  polit- 
ical power  in  the  hands  of  women  would  be  used  to  pass 
better  laws  in  respect  to  such  matters.  This  argument 
appears  to  be  one  of  the  most  convincing  of  all  those 
advanced  in  support  of  woman  suffrage.  Since  the 
laws  and  administration  of  a  democracy  are  supposed  to 
reflect  and  embody  the  wishes  and  character  of  the 
mass  of  the  people,  it  follows  that  the  larger  the  number 
of  elements  in  the  population  who  are  instrumental  in 
framing  the  laws  and  conducting  the  government,  the 
more  complete  and  perfect  will  be  the  democracy.  It 
does  not  seem  probable,  however,  that  much  prominence 
will  be  given  to  this  argument  by  the  advanced  feminists, 
since  it  is  based  upon  the  inherent  diversity,  instead  of 
identity,  between  men  and  women. 

There  seems  to  be  no  possibility  of  predicting  the  in- 
fluence of  woman  suffrage  upon  society  on  purely  a 
priori  grounds ;  it  is  a  question  which  can  be  settled  only 
by  experiment  and  experience.  So  far,  the  evidence  of 
experience  seems  to  be  somewhat  contradictory.  While 
many  noteworthy  social  advances  have  been  made  in 
suffrage  states  since  women  received  the  vote,  many  of 
them  have  been  along  lines  already  mapped  out  in  man- 
governed  states,  and  have  not  exceeded  or  even  equaled 
the  achievements  of  states  without  woman  suffrage. 
It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  state  in  the  Union  where  the 
interests  of  women  and  children,  and  the  sanctity  of  the 
home,  are  more  adequately  safeguarded  than  in  man- 
governed  Massachusetts.  In  this  connection  it  is  in- 
teresting to  note  that  Colorado  not  long  ago  was 
commonly  characterized  as  the  "worst-governed  state 
in  the  Union." 


REVOLUTIONARY   SCHEMES  281 

In  making  comparisons  of  this  sort,  also,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  woman  suffrage  is  a  "new  broom," 
and  therefore  "sweeps  clean."  Any  supposed  reform 
which  is  accomplished  as  the  result  of  a  long  and  hard 
fight  is  under  a  tremendous  pressure  to  "make  good" 
in  the  early  days  of  its  victory  while  the  leaders  are  still 
alive  and  prominently  in  the  public  eye.  The  enthusi- 
asm and  esprit  de  corps  which  have  made  victory  possible 
are  still  available  for  justifying  that  victory.  If  the 
young  men  of  the  United  States  should  launch  a  vigorous 
campaign  to  have  the  voting  age  reduced  to  sixteen  years, 
and  should  finally  achieve  their  end,  there  is  little  doubt 
that  some  good  effects  would  be  discernible  for  a  few 
years.  The  ultimate  effects  of  such  a  movement  are  a 
very  different  thing,  and  it  is  still  too  early,  in  the 
United  States  at  least,  to  judge  decisively  of  the  prac- 
tical workings  of  woman  suffrage. 

The  benefit  to  women.  The  third  chief  group  of  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  woman  suffrage  contend  that  women 
should  be  given  the  vote  because  it  would  improve 
woman.  It  is  asserted  that  the  broadening  influence  of 
participation  in  the  active  management  of  public  affairs 
would  bring  about  a  development  and  self-expression 
much  needed  in  female  character.  Particularly  is  it 
urged  that  women  would  profit  by  the  educational  value 
of  keeping  posted  on  current  affairs.  There  is  a  certain 
superficial  cogency  about  this  type  of  argument,  which, 
it  must  be  confessed,  diminishes  upon  close  analysis.  In 
the  first  place,  the  influence,  broadening  or  otherwise, 
exerted  upon  the  average  male  citizen  by  his  possession 
of  the  vote  appears  very  insignificant.  The  man  whose 
political  life  is  limited  to  occasional  and  grudging  trips 
to  the  polls  is  not  much  affected  for  better  or  worse  by 


282  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

his  right  of  suffrage ;  while  the  man  whose  business  is 
politics  does  not  seem  invariably  to  be  improved  by  his 
business.  In  the  second  place,  as  far  as  education  is 
concerned,  it  seems  probable  that  women  would  get  more 
education  in  one  year  of  fighting  for  the  vote  than  they 
would  in  ten  years  of  exercising  it. 

Arguments  against  woman  suffrage.  The  principal 
arguments  against  woman  suffrage  imply  either  (i)  that 
woman  is  less  fitted  than  man  for  political  responsibilities 
and  duties,  or  (2)  that  participation  in  active  political 
life  would  injure  the  character  of  woman  or  would  inter- 
fere with  her  most  effective  performance  of  other  duties 
and  obligations. 

The  unfitness  of  women.  Along  the  former  line  it  is 
particularly  urged  that  women  are  constitutionally  less 
fitted  to  take  an  impartial,  impersonal,  and  judicial  view 
of  matters  than  are  men,  that  their  very  nature  leads  them 
into  emotionalism,  inconsistency,  contrariety,  and  at 
times  into  hysteria,  and  that  therefore  they  cannot  be 
trusted  to  follow  out  a  given  policy  consistently,  nor  to 
handle  public  questions  on  a  basis  of  complete  equity. 
All  of  these  assertions  are  flatly  denied  by  the  feminists, 
who  maintain  that  any  feminine  traits  of  the  type  spec- 
ified are  purely  fortuitous,  due  to  environment  and 
training,  and  would  disappear  in  a  few  generations  of 
freedom  and  opportunity.  And  there  the  matter  rests. 
Obviously,  neither  side  can  be  dislodged  from  its  posi- 
tion by  argument. 

One  argument  against  woman  suffrage,  very  popular 
in  an  earlier  epoch,  has  now  become  a  complete  anachro- 
nism ;  this  is  the  assertion  that  the  vote  should  accom- 
pany military  obligation,  and  since  women  cannot  fight, 
they  should  not  vote.  The  war  in  Europe  has  effectively 


REVOLUTIONARY   SCHEMES  283 

demonstrated  not  only  that  women,  if  they  can  disguise 
themselves  adequately,  can  hold  their  own  with  men 
even  on  the  battlefield  and  in  the  trenches,  but,  much 
more  significant,  that  many  national  activities,  equally 
important  for  military  success  with  actual  fighting,  can 
be  adequately  performed  by  women.  Considering  in 
addition  the  special  services  of  nursing  for  which  women 
are  peculiarly  adapted,  there  can  remain  no  doubt  that 
woman  is  as  completely  entitled  to  the  vote,  on  mili- 
taristic grounds,  as  man. 

The  injury  to  women.  As  to  the  effect  of  political  ac- 
tivity upon  the  character  and  usefulness  of  women,  two 
or  three  considerations  demand  attention.  In  the  first 
place,  the  woman  who  took  her  political  responsibilities 
as  lightly  as  does  the  average  male  citizen  would  hardly 
find  that  they  imposed  any  appreciable  handicap  on  her, 
nor  interfered  in  the  slightest  with  her  other  occupations ; 
neither  could  they  injure  the  delicacy  or  refinement  of 
her  nature.  There  remains  the  question  of  active  or  pro- 
fessional participation  in  politics.  No  woman  would  be 
compelled  to  take  up  engrossing  political  activities 
unless  she  felt  that  she  had  the  time  and  the  capacity 
to  do  so ;  this  question  could  safely  be  left  to  the  individ- 
ual woman.  For  the  women  who  did,  politics  would 
probably  prove  to  be  what  it  is  for  men,  a  source  of  mani- 
fold opportunities  and  temptations,  an  efficient  school  of 
corruption  for  the  weak,  and  an  admirable  discipline  for 
the  strong,  an  intimate  revelation  of  the  world  as  it  is. 

In  this  connection,  there  is  one  fact  which  should  be 
clearly  recognized  by  those  who  advocate  the  enfran- 
chisement of  women,  viz. :  that  if  women  ever  enter 
political  life  on  terms  of  complete  equality  with  men,  if 
they  become  involved  in  "the  system,"  if  the  motives 


284  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

back  of  their  political  activities  come  to  be  ambition, 
greed,  lust  for  power,  and  the  desire  to  make  a  living,  as 
well  as  the  desire  to  serve  their  country  and  accomplish 
reform  —  in  short,  if  woman  becomes  a  complete  partici- 
pant in  political  life,  it  will  mean  the  introduction  of  sex 
into  politics.  Whether  this  would  prove  a  good  thing 
or  a  bad  thing  cannot  be  decided  offhand ;  certainly  it 
would  be  a  very  serious  thing.  In  view  of  the  appalling 
power  for  evil  which  inheres  in  the  present  system  of  bar- 
gaining for  money  and  patronage  in  political  life,  and  the 
degrading  influence  which  it  exerts  on  all  but  the  very 
strongest,  the  consequences  which  would  arise  from  the 
introduction  of  a  third  object  of  bargaining  would  inevi- 
tably be  of  the  gravest  social  concern.  For  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  vote  for  women  will  fall  upon  the 
just  and  upon  the  unjust,  and  that  there  will  no  more  be 
a  moral  test  for  the  franchise  applied  to  women  than  to 
men.  Perhaps  the  ultimate  result  would  be  a  higher 
morality  for  men  as  well  as  for  women.  But  those  who 
advocate  complete  political  emancipation  for  women 
must  be  prepared  to  encounter  some  decidedly  undesir- 
able corollaries  to  their  program  during  the  period  while 
the  mores  are  becoming  adjusted  to  the  new  regime. 

Small  ground  for  argument.  On  the  whole,  there 
seems  to  be  a  very  narrow  margin  for  real  argumentation 
in  the  matter  of  votes  for  women.  Woman  suffrage 
is,  after  all,  the  sort  of  thing  that  "cometh  not  with 
observation."  It  is  distinctly  a  matter  of  the  mores ; 
it  comes,  in  any  given  society,  when  the  forces  of  social 
evolution  have  prepared  that  society  for  it.  And  when 
it  comes,  it  brings  with  it  both  good  and  ill.  If  the 
society  is  undergoing  a  really  progressive  evolution 
there  will  probably  be  more  of  good  than  evil.  But 


REVOLUTIONARY   SCHEMES  285 

the  actual  conferring  of  the  vote  upon  women  is  only  to 
a  very  limited  extent  the  cause  of  the  good,  but  rather 
the  accompaniment  or  expression  of  forces  for  good  in 
the  social  evolution.  To  force  woman  suffrage  prema- 
turely upon  a  society  not  prepared  for  it  will  result  in 
accentuating  the  evil  and  minimizing  the  good.  A 
suggestive  analogy  is  found  in  the  theory  of  revolutions, 
expounded  by  Lassalle,  which  holds  that  the  real  revolu- 
tion is  that  obscure  change  in  social  relationships  which 
takes  place  gradually,  and  that  the  visible  so-called  "rev- 
olution" is  merely  the  outward  sign  that  the  change 
has  been  accomplished. 

The  economic  independence  of  women.  Among  the 
more  radical  proposals  of  feminism  none  is  more  im- 
portant and  significant  than  the  movement  for  the 
"economic  independence"  of  woman.  This  term  im- 
plies identity  between  men  and  women,  not  only  as  re- 
gards economic  opportunity,  but  economic  responsibility 
and  obligation.  It  is  not  enough  that  the  doors  of  the 
world  of  business  should  be  thrown  wide  open  to  women, 
and  the  social  stigma  removed  from  women  who  engage 
in  any  respectable  gainful  occupation  whatever;  there 
must  also  be  an  identical  burden  of  financial  obligation 
resting  upon  all  women,  married  as  well  as  single,  with 
that  which  rests  upon  men. 

The  foregoing  proposal  evidently  concerns  specifically 
the  position  of  woman  in  the  family,  particularly  the 
married  woman.  The  present  situation,  wherein  the 
wife  is  socially  and  legally  dependent  for  financial  sup- 
port upon  her  husband,  is  bitterly  resented  by  feminists, 
and  is  regarded  as  the  source  of  many  of  the  most 
grievous  social  ills;  it  is  called  "parasitism,"  and  is  re- 
garded as  differing  only  in  degree  from  prostitution. 


286  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

The  change  advocated  is  the  imposition  of  an  equal  duty 
for  the  financial  support  of  the  family  upon  each  parent, 
and  the  transference  of  the  social  stigma  from  the  woman 
who  works  for  her  living  to  the  woman  who  does  not 
work  for  her  living.  This  would  mean,  of  course,  that 
the  percentage  of  females  gainfully  employed  would 
become  virtually  the  same  as  that  of  males. 

A  proposal  so  revolutionary  as  this  rises  almost  above 
discussion,  and  certainly  above  prediction.  It  is  utterly 
impossible  to  tell  in  advance  what  would  be  the  results, 
immediate  or  final,  of  such  a  complete  inversion  of  the 
social  order.  All  that  can  be  done  is  to  note  certain 
general  results  which  might  be  expected  to  follow  the  in- 
auguration of  the  scheme,  assuming  that  to  be  possible. 

First  of  all,  the  establishment  of  the  "economic  inde- 
pendence" of  woman  would  correct  the  great  malad- 
justment which  now  exists  between  the  normal  aspects 
of  the  economic  life  and  marriage  and  the  family.  No 
longer  would  there  be  free  competition  between  two 
classes  of  workers  with  different  social  liabilities.  The 
principle  that  equality  of  economic  opportunity  should 
be  accompanied  by  equality  of  financial  responsibility 
would  be  met.  The  woman  in  industry  would  regard 
her  work  in  the  same  light  of  permanence  as  does  the 
man.  Her  marginal  bid  for  remuneration  would  be 
fixed,  not  as  now  by  the  minimum  amount  necessary 
to  support  one  person,  but  by  the  amount  fixed  by  her 
actual  or  potential  family  responsibilities.  This,  in 
itself,  would  obviously  be  a  good  thing. 

There  are,  however,  certain  equally  obvious  dis- 
advantages and  obstacles  connected  with  the  proposed 
measure.  Most  of  these  arise  from  the  fundamental 
weakness  of  feminism  already  noted.  For  reasons  con- 


REVOLUTIONARY   SCHEMES  287 

nected  with  the  permanent  welfare  of  society,  women 
cannot  be  allowed  the  same  freedom  in  industrial  activi- 
ties that  men  can.  The  interests  of  the  rising  generation 
require  that  every  mother  for  a  considerable  period  of 
her  prime  be  required  to  engage  in  industrial  occupations 
only  under  strict  limitations,  if  at  all.  During  this 
period,  her  earning  capacity  in  the  strictly  economic 
field  will  be  materially  reduced.  How,  then,  is  she  to 
be  enabled  to  bear  her  share  of  the  financial  burden  of 
the  family?  How,  in  short,  are  the  duties  of  mother- 
hood to  be  made  to  harmonize  with  the  obligations  of 
complete  economic  independence?  The  only  logical 
answer  yet  made  to  these  queries  is  that  the  state  should 
subsidize  mothers  during  the  period  when  the  best 
interests  and  fullest  development  of  their  children  de- 
mand their  partial  or  undivided  attention.  This  solu- 
tion, however,  can  hardly  suit  the  feminists,  since  it 
involves  payment  for  sex  functions,  which  is  exactly 
what  the  feminists  deprecate. 

The  visionary  character  of  feminism.  The  foregoing 
example  will  sufficiently  indicate  the  general  character 
of  the  feminist  proposals.  If  woman  suffrage  involves 
a  change  in  the  mores,  much  more  does  complete  and 
perfect  feminism !  As  yet,  feminism  itself  presents  no 
consistent  and  harmonious  program  for  public  considera- 
tion. Particularly  with  respect  to  the  narrower  sex 
interests  feminists  are  divided  into  two  opposing  camps, 
one  emphasizing  sex,  and  arguing  for  a  freer  sex  life  for 
women,  including  the  right  of  motherhood  for  every 
woman,  whether  married  or  not,  and  the  other  depre- 
cating the  emphasis  upon  sex,  and  urging  a  popular  con- 
ception and  treatment  of  woman  based  much  more  largely 
upon  her  other  capacities  and  endowments.  Taken  as  a 


288  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

whole,  feminism  presents  itself  thus  far  merely  as  an 
amorphous  mass  of  ideas  and  ideals,  hopes,  dissatisfac- 
tions, longings,  resentments,  desires,  regrets,  imaginings, 
and  speculations.  Its  importance  and  interest  are  mainly 
in  its  significance  of  far-reaching  changes  which  have 
taken  place  and  are  taking  place  in  human  relationships. 
It  is  a  sign  or  symptom  of  the  direction  of  social  evolu- 
tion. It  is  something  neither  to  fight  for  nor  against, 
but  to  watch,  study,  and  contemplate.  If  society  ever 
becomes  ready  for  feminism,  feminism  will  come.  In 
the  meantime,  if  the  study  of  feminism  discloses  certain 
social  tendencies  which  promise  an  increase  in  welfare 
on  the  one  hand,  or  threaten  social  injury  on  the  other 
hand,  conscious  effort  may  profitably  be  expended  in 
accelerating  or  checking  these  tendencies  respectively. 
If  this  is  done,  the  question  of  feminism  itself  may  safely 
be  left  to  the  arbitrament  of  time.115 

Eugenics.  The  second  great  revolutionary  scheme 
for  social  betterment  in  the  field  of  self  perpetuation  is 
eugenics.  In  a  sense,  eugenics  is  the  inclusive  scheme 
for  improvement  in  the  entire  realm  of  social  relation- 
ships, for,  in  its  purpose,  it  aims  at  much  more  than  merely 
the  correction  of  the  evils  directly  connected  with  the 
growth  of  population.  It  is  because  the  forces  which 
eugenics  plans  to  use  are  those  associated  with  the 
growth  of  population  that  this  movement  is  classified 
under  this  head. 

Eugenics  is  of  peculiar  interest  because  it  is  the  only 
noteworthy  social  movement  that  proposes  to  correct  so- 
cial evils  on  the  basis  of  heredity ;  every  other  reform  pro- 
gram centers  its  attention  upon  the  environment.  The 
long  argument  as  to  whether  heredity  or  environment  is 
the  more  important  factor  in  determining  character  is 


REVOLUTIONARY   SCHEMES  289 

familiar  to  every  student  of  biological  or  sociological 
matters.  It  is  still  unsettled.  But  there  is  assuredly 
enough  importance  attaching  to  heredity  in  human 
affairs  to  give  particular  weight  to  any  scientific  proposal 
to  utilize  this  principle  in  advancing  human  welfare.  In 
fact,  heredity  is  perhaps  more  important  to  man  than  to 
any  other  animal,  for  the  reason  that  man's  life  is  gov- 
erned so  largely  by  the  human,  instead  of  the  physical, 
environment,  and  the  human  environment  consists  of 
other  men,  women,  and  children,  each  with  his  own  hered- 
ity. Thus  in  the  case  of  man,  not  only  the  original 
endowment  of  the  individual,  but  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  his  most  determinative  environment,  are  fixed 
by  the  principle  of  heredity. 

In  brief,  eugenics  proposes  to  use,  in  the  production  of 
a  better  human  race,  those  principles  of  development, 
long  known  to  breeders,  by  which  the  grade  of  culti- 
vated plants  and  domestic  animals  has  been  so  greatly  im- 
proved. Eugenics  may  be  tersely  defined  as  the  science 
of  human  breeding. 

Two  branches  of  eugenics.  It  is  evident  at  a  glance  that 
the  science  of  eugenics,  like  sociology,  and  like  most 
other  sciences,  naturally  divides  into  two  departments : 
first,  the  theoretic  department,  which  seeks  to  discover 
the  laws  and  principles  of  human  heredity ;  and  second, 
the  practical  department,  which  endeavors  to  devise 
methods  whereby  these  laws  and  principles  may  be  put 
into  practical  operation.  It  is  obvious  that  the  former 
of  these  departments,  difficult  as  it  is,  presents  a  much 
easier  field  and  a  much  greater  promise  of  accomplish- 
ment, than  the  latter.  The  general  laws  of  heredity  are 
now  fairly  well  understood ;  the  problem  of  determining 
what  modifications  or  restatements  are  necessary  to 


2QO  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

make  them  applicable  to  the  human  species  is  simply  a 
question  of  sufficient  biological  observation  and  experi- 
mentation with  human  specimens.  The  laws  of  human 
heredity  exist;  the  task  is  simply  to  find  them  out. 
The  second  department  of  eugenics,  however,  involves 
the  modification  of  the  mores  to  fit  an  approved  and 
rational,  but  arbitrary,  model.  Any  one  at  all  familiar 
with  the  nature  of  the  mores  will  at  once  recognize  this 
as  a  task  of  unimaginable  difficulty. 

Theoretical  eugenics.  It  was  remarked  above  that  even 
the  task  of  theoretical  eugenics  is  by  no  means  easy. 
The  chief  reason  for  this  is  the  familiar  one  of  the  limited 
field  of  scientific  experiment  upon  human  beings.  In  the 
case  of  plants  and  the  lower  animals,  the  subjects  are 
under  the  direct  and  complete  control  of  the  breeder. 
He  can  arrange  matings  at  will ;  he  can  refuse  reproduc- 
tion to  those  types  which  he  does  not  wish  to  perpetuate ; 
he  can  arrange  arbitrary  and  artificial  environments  and 
conditions  of  life.  None  of  these  expedients  is  open 
to  the  student  of  human  heredity.  He  is  confined  to  the 
sort  of  experimentation  which  marks  the  limit  of  prac- 
tically every  social  scientist,  viz.  the  careful  and  minute 
observation  of  the  natural  phenomena  which  occur 
around  him.  Even  this  resource  is  much  restricted  in 
the  case  of  the  eugenist  by  the  extreme  difficulty  in  se- 
curing the  data  needed  for  his  inductions. 

In  spite  of  all  these  obstacles,  however,  much  has 
already  been  accomplished  in  the  formulation  of  the  laws 
of  human  heredity.  It  is  now  generally  agreed  that  the 
principles  of  independent  unit  characters,  determiners 
in  the  germ  plasm,  and  segregation  of  determiners  apply 
to  the  human  species.  Some  progress  has  been  made 
in  designating  certain  human  traits  as  positive  or 


REVOLUTIONARY   SCHEMES  291 

negative  characters.  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  and 
useful  achievement  thus  far  is  the  new  knowledge  of  the 
origin  and  nature  of  feeble-mindedness,  which  is  now 
recognized  as  a  negative  character.  On  the  basis  of  this 
knowledge,  a  workable  set  of  rules  has  been  devised  to 
govern  the  mating  of  mental  defectives.116 

Practical  eugenics.  The  task  of  applying  the  theories 
of  heredity  to  the  practical  improvement  of  human 
society  involves  two  separate  problems :  first,  what 
traits  are  to  be  selected  for  perpetuation  and  intensifi- 
cation, and  what  for  elimination ;  second,  how  people 
are  to  be  induced  or  coerced  to  put  these  principles  into 
practice. 

The  difficulties  presented  by  the  former  of  these  prob- 
lems inhere  in  the  uncertainty  as  to  what  constitutes  the 
ideal  human  type.  Shall  we  breed  for  mental  excellence 
or  for  physical,  or  shall  we  try  to  combine  both  ?  Shall 
we  seek  to  develop  a  single,  well-rounded  type  of  individ- 
ual, embodying  the  highest  perfection  attainable  of  all 
desirable  human  capacities,  or  shall  we  breed  for  special- 
ists along  a  thousand  different  lines?  If  a  family  ex- 
hibits special  musical  talent,  shall  we  seek  to  intensify 
that  gift  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  endowments  ?  To 
these,  and  many  other  questions  of  like  import,  no  con- 
vincing answer  has  yet  been  given,  though  it  is  often 
assumed  by  those  who  know  eugenics  as  little  more  than 
a  name  that  an  agreement  has  been  reached  on  some  of 
these  points.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  these 
popular  misconceptions  about  eugenics  is  that  it  confines 
its  program  to  the  perfection  of  the  physique,  at  the 
expense,  if  need  be,  of  the  intellect.117  This  is  an  ex- 
cellent example  of  one  of  those  strange  inversions  of 
thought  which  are  not  infrequent  in  the  popular  mind. 


292  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

For  Sir  Francis  Galton,  the  founder  of  eugenics,  laid 
almost  his  entire  stress  upon  mental  excellence,  and  his 
followers  have  certainly  not  completely  abandoned  his 
lead. 

In  general,  it  is  recognized  as  much  simpler  to  deter- 
mine what  characters  to  breed  out  than  what  to  breed 
in.  What  is  sometimes  called  negative  eugenics  is  accord- 
ingly far  more  promising  than  positive  eugenics.  Here 
again,  feeble-mindedness  is  the  classic  example;  it  is 
generally  agreed  by  eugenists  that  provision  should  be 
made  for  eliminating  all  feeble-minded  strains. 

The  final,  and  as  yet  wholly  unsolved,  problem  of  eu- 
genics is  how  to  get  people  to  adopt  the  eugenic  ideal  and 
follow  the  eugenic  precepts.  There  are  two  possibilities, 
compulsion  and  persuasion.  For  the  purposes  of  posi- 
tive eugenics,  and  for  all  but  the  most  obvious  cases  of 
negative  eugenics,  compulsion  involves  a  revision  of  exist- 
ing mores  so  radical  as  to  be  almost  unthinkable.  The 
idea  of  the  irrationality  of  our  present  haphazard  methods 
of  human  breeding  is  by  no  means  new.  The  Italian 
philosopher,  Campanella,  in  his  early  seventeenth  cen- 
tury description  of  "The  City  of  the  Sun,"  remarked 
that  the  people  of  that  ideal  realm  "laugh  at  us  who 
exhibit  a  studious  care  for  our  breed  of  horses  and  dogs, 
but  neglect  the  breeding  of  human  beings."  118  Modern 
thinkers  are  prepared,  perhaps,  to  admit  the  right  of  the 
state  to  control  human  mating  in  its  own  interests. 
But  there  is  little  indication  that  even  the  most  ad- 
vanced society  of  our  time  is  ready  to  turn  the  entire 
arrangement  of  marriage  pairs  over  to  the  state. 

As  for  persuasion,  the  fundamental  difficulty  with  that 
expedient  is  that  it  will  appeal  least  to  those  who  need  it 
most.  The  mentally  defective,  thex  criminal,  the  igno- 


REVOLUTIONARY    SCHEMES  293 

rant,  and  the  depraved  are  fitted  neither  to  comprehend 
eugenics  nor  to  obey  its  behests.  Galton  hoped  that, 
in  time,  the  eugenic  ideal  would  become  a  sort  of  a  reli- 
gion, that  it  would  get  into  the  mores,  so  that  two  persons 
of  feeble-minded  ancestry,  however  normal  they  them- 
selves appeared,  would  feel  the  same  horror  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  marrying  each  other  as  if  they  were  brother 
and  sister.  This  hope  appears  wholly  visionary  and 
idealistic.119 

Finally,  there  remains  the  great  question,  insistently 
presenting  itself  to  the  mind,  whether,  after  all,  "  Nature  " 
or  the  natural  inclinations,  instincts,  and  impulses  which 
draw  men  and  women  together,  are  not  a  better  and  more 
reliable  guide  to  fit  mating  than  all  the  precepts  and 
formulae  of  the  theorists.  It  will  take  a  very  con- 
vincing demonstration  to  persuade  men  to  abandon  a 
system  which  has  worked  tolerably  well  for  ages  past  in 
favor  of  a  scientific  doctrine,  except  in  cases  of  the  most 
obvious  unsuitability. 

The  scientific  character  of  eugenics.  It  must  be  ob- 
served, however,  that  the  eugenics  movement,  as  far  as 
its  leaders  are  concerned,  makes  no  extreme  claims,  nor 
advocates  policies  which  it  is  not  prepared  to  support. 
In  this  it  differs  diametrically  from  feminism.  Eugenics 
is  thoroughly  scientific.  At  the  present  time,  the  promi- 
nent eugenists  are  devoting  their  attention  almost  ex- 
clusively to  the  theoretic  side,  seeking  to  build  up  an  irre- 
fragible  set  of  principles  and  doctrines  concerning  human 
breeding.  As  regards  putting  their  theories  into  prac- 
tice, they  have  advanced  only  so  far  as  they  are  sure 
that  they  are  on  firm  ground.  There  is  a  consensus  of 
opinion  that  feeble-mindedness  is  a  fit  subject  for  com- 
pulsory elimination,  and  that  every  society  should  make 


294  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

provision  absolutely  to  prevent  the  reproduction  of  men- 
tal defectives,  either  by  surgery  or  by  segregation. 
Ample  practical  justification  is  furnished  by  the  experi- 
ence of  Italy  with  the  Cretins.120  The  program  for  deal- 
ing with  the  feeble-minded  is  the  outstanding  practical 
contribution  of  eugenics  to  date,  and  that  by  itself 
affords  sufficient  justification  for  the  entire  movement. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE   ESTHETIC   LIFE 

The  secondary  character  of  the  mental  reactions.  The 
activities  classed  by  pure  sociology  under  the  heads  of 
self-gratification  and  the  mental  reactions  are  usually 
designated  as  secondary  or  non-essential.  This  group- 
ing is  undoubtedly  accurate,  since  the  feelings  and 
motives  which  lie  back  of  these  activities,  and  the  social 
institutions  and  problems  which  result,  are  less  funda- 
mental and  vital  than  those  already  considered  under  the 
heads  of  self-maintenance  and  self-perpetuation.  At 
the  same  time,  the  activities  included  in  the  secondary 
categories  are  absolutely  essential  for  organized  and 
developed  social  life,  primarily  because  they  furnish  the 
basis  for  all  the  various  forms  of  social  control.  The 
origin  of  the  societal  system  and  of  religion  is  traced  to 
the  mental  reactions,  while  the  force  of  public  opinion 
depends  directly  upon  the  motive  of  vanity  which  under- 
lies self-gratification. 

Thus  from  the  standpoint  of  origins,  that  is  to  say, 
the  standpoint  of  pure  sociology,  the  activities  included 
in  the  last  two  heads  rank  only  a  little  below  those  in- 
cluded in  the  first  two,  in  social  importance.  From  the 
point  of  view  of  applied  sociology,  however,  the  cate- 
gories of  the  esthetic  life  and  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  life  demand  decidedly  less  consideration  than 

295 


296  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

the  first  two  groups,  partly  because  the  various  forms  of 
social  control,  originating  in  simple  motives,  are  so 
necessary  for  organized  social  life  that  they  become  an 
integral  part  of  the  social  fabric  in  every  department 
of  life,  and  partly  because  most  of  the  problems  arising 
in  these  fields  have  either  been  pretty  definitely  settled, 
or  else  are  of  minor  importance.  Applied  sociology  prac- 
tically takes  the  state,  religion,  and  public  opinion  for 
granted,  and  turns  to  them  for  assistance  and  support 
wherever  the  service  of  either  is  appropriate.  As  was 
noted  at  the  beginning  of  this  study,*  many  of  the  vital 
problems  of  applied  sociology  gather  around  the  ques- 
tion as  to  which  of  the  agencies  of  social  control  will  be 
most  efficacious  in  meeting  a  certain  situation.  In  that 
connection,  something  was  said  about  the  special  field 
of  state  action  —  the  treatment  of  crime  —  and  numer- 
ous instances  have  come  up  for  consideration  in  the 
succeeding  pages.  Something  has  also  been  said  re- 
garding the  place  of  the  family  in  dealing  with  non- 
criminal  sin  and  vice.  There  remain  for  consideration 
the  institutions  of  religion  and  public  opinion,  which 
must  be  relied  upon  for  much  of  the  social  control  of 
sin  and  vice,  as  well  as  for  the  support  of  the  state  in 
its  handling  of  crime. 

Aside  from  the  foregoing  aspects  of  the  esthetic, 
intellectual,  and  spiritual  life  of  modern  societies,  there 
are  a  few  phases  of  the  normal  situation  under  each  head 
which  demand  consideration  because  of  their  distinctly 
modern  character,  and  a  few  specific  social  problems  — 
some  of  them  of  large  importance  —  which  fall  definitely 
within  these  fields,  and  have  not  received  attention  else- 
where. 

*  Page  36. 


THE  ESTHETIC  LIFE  297 

Vanity.  The  force  which  lies  back  of  the  activities  of 
self-gratification,  or  the  esthetic  life,  is  vanity.  It  is 
necessary  to  distinguish  clearly  between  the  ordinary 
signification  of  the  term  "vanity"  and  its  sociological 
meaning.  In  every-day  phraseology  vanity  means 
self-esteem,  thinking  well  of  one's  self.  Sociologically, 
vanity  means  the  desire  to  think  well  of  one's  self.  Only 
in  this  sense  can  vanity  be  a  social  force ;  for  action  must 
result  from  a  desire,  not  from  a  state  of  mind.  Inter- 
preted in  this  way,  vanity  appears  not  as  an  unworthy 
characteristic,  but  as  an  admirable  and  valuable  quality ; 
it  is,  moreover,  practically  universal  among  human 
beings. 

The  activities  which  arise  from  vanity,  then,  are  those 
which  seek  to  establish  in  men  a  sense  of  self-approba- 
tion, or  well-being.  Since  man  is  a  social  animal,  a 
considerable  element  in  the  feeling  of  self-satisfaction 
consists  in  the  conviction  that  others  think  well  of  one. 
Hence  many  of  the  phenomena  under  the  head  of  self- 
gratification  have  to  do  with  men's  efforts  to  win  the 
approval  of  their  fellow  men. 

Fashion.  There  are  two  main  interests  arising  from 
the  motive  of  vanity ;  these  are  fashion  and  recreation. 
Fashion,  in  turn,  includes  matters  of  dress,  manners, 
personal  appearance  and  bearing,  conversation,  and  the 
broader  affairs  connected  with  what  is  commonly  des- 
ignated public  opinion.  Fashion  is  thus  a  highly  so- 
cial interest,  as  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  it  domi- 
nates much  of  what  is  included  in  one  of  the  common 
meanings  of  "society."  The  human  relationships  which 
arise  from  fashion,  while  they  do  not  penetrate  to  the 
very  foundations  of  social  existence,  nevertheless  con- 
tribute in  a  high  degree  to  the  smooth  running  of  the 


298  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

social  mechanism,  and  the  enjoyment  and  peace  of  daily 
life.  That  they  are  not  absolutely  fundamental  is 
evidenced  by  the  rapidity  and  arbitrariness  with  which 
they  change.  No  society  could  possibly  tolerate  such 
sudden  -and  wanton  variations  in  the  mores  of  self-mainte- 
nance and  self-perpetuation  as  characterize  many  of  the 
phenomena  of  self-gratification.  Nevertheless,  probably 
the  larger  portion  of  the  positive  surplus  of  human  hap- 
piness inheres  in  the  fashion  interests  and  activities. 
Professor  Giddings  says,  "Of  all  means  of  happiness, 
the  social  pleasures  are  the  most  tempting  and  exhilarat- 
ing."121 

Public  opinion.  Of  especial  social  importance  is 
that  aspect  of  fashion  called  public  opinion,  since,  as 
has  been  said,  it  is  by  public  opinion  that  society  exerts 
much  of  its  extra-legal  social  control  over  its  members. 
Public  opinion  is  a  force  hard  to  define,  hard  to  analyze, 
hard  to  isolate.  Most  of  the  tune  we  are  not  conscious 
of  its  influence  any  more  than  we  are  of  the  pressure  of 
the  air.  Nevertheless  it  is  always  present,  bearing  upon 
us  with  tremendous  weight,  and  once  in  a  while  we  feel  it, 
as  Professor  Ross  says,  "like  fathoms  of  sea  lying  heavily 
upon  us."  m  The  means  by  which  public  opinion  man- 
ifests and  exerts  itself  are  numerous  and  varied.  It  works 
partly  through  commendation  and  partly  through  con- 
demnation. There  is  also  "  something  which  is  not  praise 
or  blame,  and  this  residuum  is  mass  suggestion.  From 
this  comes  its  power  to  reduce  men  to  uniformity  as  a 
steam  roller  reduces  bits  of  stone  to  smooth  macadam." 123 

Convention.  Long-established  public  opinion  mani- 
fests itself  in  convention,  which  is  a  conservative  factor 
of  tremendous  power.  Convention  has  its  advantages 
and  its  disadvantages.  On  the  positive  side,  it  operates 


THE   ESTHETIC   LIFE  299 

to  hold  the  rank  and  file  of  men  in  line  and  to  support 
traditional  morality.  So  great  is  its  force,  and  so  dif- 
ficult to  escape,  that  there  is  really  little  merit  in  con- 
ventional morality.  Only  the  exceptionally  strong  willed 
and  independent  can  escape  convention  either  upward  or 
downward.  Herein  lies  the  great  disservice  of  conven- 
tion. It  is  cramping  and  confining.  It  clips  the  wings 
of  the  ambitious  and  spirited.  It  places  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  art  and  progress.  American  literature,  for  in- 
stance, has  been  criticized  because  it  is  composed  as  if 
solely  with  the  sweet  girl  graduate  in  mind,  or  as  if  we 
were  all  possible  contributors  to  some  ladies' journal. 
While  some  may  query  whether  this  criticism  is  really 
merited  in  recent  years,  yet  it  represents  sufficiently  well 
the  general  influence  of  staid  and  stereotyped  morality. 
Convention  is  a  social  form  necessitated  by  the  weak- 
nesses and  limitations  of  the  herd.  And  because  the 
herd  includes  almost  all  of  us,  convention  is  one  of  the 
most  necessary  of  social  institutions. 

The  influence  of  the  individual  The  questions  of  the 
efficacy  of  conscious  individual  effort  in  shaping  public 
opinion,  the  means  by  which  this  influence  is  exerted, 
and  the  duty  of  exercising  it,  are  among  the  most  in- 
teresting, intricate,  and  important  of  all  the  problems  of 
applied  sociology.  Public  opinion  is  essentially  a  matter 
of  the  mores,  and  one  of  the  primary  teachings  of  pure 
sociology  is  that  it  is  extremely  difficult  for  the  individual 
to  alter  the  mores  of  his  group.  Nevertheless,  public 
opinion  is  nothing  else  than  the  consensus  of  individual 
opinions ;  there  is  no  social  mind  apart  from  the  minds 
of  the  members  of  society.  It  follows  that  the  opinion 
of  every  individual,  however  humble  and  insignificant, 
has  some  bearing  upon  the  public  opinion  of  his  group. 


300  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

It  is  also  unquestionably  true  that  exceptional  individ- 
uals, from  time  to  time,  exert  an  incalculable  influence 
upon  the  public  opinion,  and  therefore  upon  the  mores, 
of  their  group.  Great  men  do  not  make  history,  but 
they  play  a  very  significant  part  in  accelerating,  retard- 
ing, diverting,  or  intensifying  social  movements.  The 
greatest  man,  or  the  most  successfully  great  man,  is  the 
one  who  succeeds  in  personifying  an  existing  social 
tendency  at  the  psychological  moment  in  its  develop- 
ment. Yet  it  would  be  an  error  to  assume  that  social 
movements  can  develop  and  culminate  without  individ- 
ual leaders,  or  that  human  history  would  have  been 
what  it  has  been  without  its  great  men.  Between  the 
extremes  of  the  very  great  and  the  very  humble  are  the 
masses  of  individuals  of  varying  degrees  of  education,  in- 
telligence, culture,  and  insight,  each  with  his  own  capac- 
ity for  contributing  to  public  opinion,  and  each  with 
his  special  responsibility  for  seeing  that  that  contri- 
bution is  of  the  right  sort.  There  is  scarcely  a  social 
duty,  beyond  that  of  the  ordinary,  expected  conformity 
to  the  mores,  which  has  a  more  binding  weight  upon 
the  individual  than  the  duty  of  studying  the  social 
tendencies  of  his  own  time,  estimating  the  probable  effect 
of  each  upon  human  welfare,  and  casting  the  influence 
of  his  own  opinion  in  favor  of  those  which  promise  im- 
provement, and  against  those  which  threaten  injury.124 
Recreation.  It  may  seem,  at  first  thought,  like  a 
strange  interpretation  of  the  facts  to  classify  recreation 
among  the  activities  which  arise  from  the  motive  of 
vanity,  and  it  would  certainly  be  straining  the  point  to 
assert  that  vanity  is  the  sole  force  which  lies  back  of 
all  the  varied  recreational  activities  of  modern  peoples. 
Some  writers  on  recreation  speak  of  "the  play  instinct." 


THE   ESTHETIC  LIFE  301 

In  so  far  as  play  is  instinctive,  there  is  no  necessity  for 
seeking  to  analyze  its  origins  ;  sociology  takes  all  true 
instincts  for  granted.  But  with  reference  to  the  more 
developed  recreational  activities  of  those  who  have  passed 
beyond  the  age  of  childhood,  it  becomes  clear  that 
vanity  is  prominent,  if  not  predominant,  among  the 
motives  which  lead  to  play.  This  is  emphatically  true 
of  all  competitive  sports,  and  it  is  significant  how  uni- 
versally we  prefer  the  competitive  sports.  If  we  cannot 
find  a  personal  opponent,  we  set  up  an  artificial  one  and 
call  him  "bogey."  This  is  not  to  say  that  it  is  merely 
winning,  or  the  desire  to  win,  which  gives  zest  to  these 
sports.  It  is  the  desire  to  do  things  well,  to  be  conscious 
of  doing  them  well,  and  to  be  known  as  doing  them  well. 
Eliminate  these  motives  from  current  recreations,  and 
there  would  undoubtedly  be  much  left ;  but  it  would  be 
only  a  residuum.  Even  in  the  non-competitive  sports, 
such  as  hunting  and  fishing,  there  is  the  combination  of 
the  desire  to  excel  with  the  contest  of  wits  between  the 
hunter  and  his  game.  Of  course,  there  are  other  types 
of  recreation  such  as  dancing,  and  even  more  clearly  the 
drama,  where  the  element  of  vanity  is  present  in  much 
smaller  degree  if  at  all.  But  at  any  rate,  without  push- 
ing the  argument  to  an  extreme,  recreation  fits  into  the 
general  classification  more  aptly  under  the  head  of  self- 
gratification  than  anywhere  else.  Certainly  the  sense 
of  well-being  is  the  chief  thing  sought  in  all  recreation. 
The  commercialization  of  recreation.  The  most  im- 
portant fact  to  be  noted  in  the  normal  aspects  of  rec- 
reation in  modern  life  is  that  recreation  has  shared  the 
general  fate  of  almost  all  social  interests  —  it  has  become 
complex,  impersonal,  mechanized,  and  commercialized. 
The  natural,  spontaneous  sports  such  as  are  described 


302  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

in  Goldsmith's  "Deserted  Village,"  and  are  still  to  be 
observed  in  the  social  life  of  backward  peoples,  or  in  the 
simple  rural  sections  of  modern  nations,  cannot  survive 
in  the  atmosphere  of  the  typical  organization  of  highly 
developed  societies.  There  are  many  reasons  for  this  — 
lack  of  room,  lack  of  leisure,  lack  of  neighborhood 
acquaintanceship,  lack  of  means  for  some  and  excess  of 
means  for  others.  The  commercialization  of  recreation 
is  particularly  significant.  More  and  more  people  are 
ceasing  to  participate  in  sports  themselves,  and  are  get- 
ting their  recreation  by  paying  to  see  others  participate 
in  sports.  This  is,  of  course,  vastly  better  than  no  rec- 
reation at  all.  Professional  baseball  plays  a  tremen- 
dously valuable  part  in  the  life  of  the  average  urban  in- 
dividual of  to-day,  by  furnishing  him  something  to  think 
about,  to  talk  about,  to  get  excited  and  argue  about,  to 
take  him  out  of  himself.  But  watching  professional 
baseball  is  a  poor  substitute  for  actual  participation  in 
the  game,  however  inexpertly.  The  "movies"  area 
heaven-sent  blessing  to  the  poorer  classes  of  our  great 
cities ;  but  they  cannot  take  the  place  of  the  impromptu 
dramatizations  of  a  simple  neighborhood  group. 

Even  in  the  case  of  recreations  where  personal  partici- 
pation still  persists,  the  facilities  for  such  participation 
are  now  largely  on  a  commercial  basis  in  our  modern  cen- 
ters of  social  life.  The  dance  hall,  the  bowling  alley, 
the  skating  rink,  the  shooting  gallery,  the  pool  room,  and 
the  recreation  park,  are  our  urban  substitutes  for  lake 
and  river,  hill  and  meadow,  village  common  and  virgin 
wild.  Here,  again,  commercialized  facilities  are  better 
than  none.  But  there  are  many  disadvantages  connected 
with  commercialized  recreations,  quite  apart  from  the 
expense  which  they  entail.  In  the  first  place,  they  lack 


THE   ESTHETIC  LIFE  303 

the  spontaneity  and  naturalness  of  the  un-bought  rec- 
reations. They  are  tainted  with  the  very  spirit  of 
mammon.  In  his  eagerness  to  get  his  money's  worth, 
the  participant  loses  the  sense  of  leisure,  of  abandon,  and 
of  exhilaration  which  are  so  essential  to  true  recreation. 
The  public  dance  hall  serves  its  purpose  in  modern  so- 
ciety; but  it  ranks  very  low  in  social  value  compared 
with  the  folk-dancing  of  simple  peoples. 

But  the  worst  features  of  commercialized  recreation 
belong  to  that  class  of  maladjustments  which  inevitably 
accompany  unregulated  competitive  business,  accentuated 
in  this  case  by  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  business.  Here, 
as  in  other  aspects  of  social  life,  the  influence  of  the 
unsocial,  indifferent,  irresponsible,  and  antisocial  ele- 
ments is  very  potent  in  dragging  the  entire  business 
down  to  the  level  which  the  least  worthy  managers  are 
willing  to  tolerate.  The  purchasers  of  recreation  facili- 
ties are  out  for  amusement  and  diversion,  and  because 
of  the  weaknesses  of  human  nature,  and  the  special  effects 
of  modern  industrial  life,  the  kinds  of  amusement  and  rec- 
reation which  attract  most  strongly  the  typical  pleasure- 
seeking  crowd  are  those  which  appeal  to  the  emotions 
and  stimulate  intense  sensations.  Not  all  amusements 
of  this  sort  are  calculated  to  foster  the  highest  welfare 
of  the  individual  nor  conduce  to  the  soundest  social 
conditions,  and  some  of  the  most  undesirable  and  per- 
nicious amusements  make  the  strongest  appeal  to 
an  undiscriminating  and  injudicious,  if  not  actually 
morbid  and  depraved,  crowd.  Accordingly,  the  pur- 
veyors of  recreation  are  under  a  constant  temptation 
to  offer  unwholesome  forms  of  diversion,  disguised  if 
necessary  under  some  sort  of  a  veil  of  respectability,  of 
a  lower  and  lower  character,  extending  down  to  the  very 


304  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

depths  of  vice  and  degradation.  And  because  facilities 
of  this  kind  can  be  made  to  pay,  and  pay  well,  those 
managers  who  are  willing  to  cater  to  the  foibles,  depraved 
tastes,  and  degenerate  desires  of  their  patrons  are  in  a 
position  either  to  drive  the  more  conscientious  managers 
out  of  business  or  drag  them  down  to  their  own  level. 

The  case  of  the  dance  hall  is  typical.  The  love  of 
music,  the  sense  of  rhythm,  and  the  natural  pleasure  in 
association  between  the  sexes,  are  all  normal,  and  make 
dancing  one  of  the  most  universal  and  popular  of 
pastimes.  Since  there  are  no  natural  facilities  available 
to  the  majority  of  the  denizens  of  cities  for  the  gratifica- 
tion of  the  desire  for  dancing,  it  inevitably  follows  that 
provision  is  made  on  a  commercial  basis.  But  dance 
hall  managers  soon  learn  that  they  can  increase  the 
attractiveness  of  their  places,  and  swell  their  receipts, 
by  adding  certain  subsidiary  features.  Provision  for 
the  sale  of  alcoholic  drinks  will  attract  some ;  the 
presence  of  girls  who  are  ready  to  dance  with  chance 
acquaintances  will  appeal  to  many  lonely  young  men. 
From  this  beginning  things  progress  along  a  perfectly 
logical  course  until  the  stage  is  reached  where  the  dance 
hall  becomes  merely  an  adjunct  to  the  saloon  and  an 
antechamber  to  the  brothel.  Such  a  recreational  trav- 
esty has  been  described  as  follows:  "Many  saloons 
have  as  adjuncts  a  dance  floor  in  a  room  set  aside  for  that 
purpose.  Here,  without  any  attempt  at  concealment, 
the  drink  is  the  thing.  .  .  .  Dancing  is  carried  on 
for  three  minutes,  and  then  there  is  an  intermission  of 
fifteen  to  twenty  minutes,  when  the  waiter  urges  you  to 
drink.  If  you  don't  drink,  and  if  you  don't  get  other 
people  to  drink,  you  are  not  welcome,  and  the  waiter 
frankly  tells  you  so."  m  In  places  of  this  type  the 


THE   ESTHETIC   LIFE  305 

rates  of  admission  are  almost  always  lower  for  girls  than 
for  men,  and  the  managers  frankly  say  that  to  draw  the 
crowd  they  must  have  the  girls.  The  cost  of  admission 
is  all  the  girl  has  to  pay,  if  she  is  willing  to  accept  the 
attentions  of  the  men  she  meets  there,  as  many  nervously 
tired,  ignorant,  and  reckless  girls  are  willing  to  do. 

A  similar  development  naturally  occurs,  in  the  ab- 
se  ce  of  control,  in  other  forms  of  recreation,  such  as 
the  amusement  park,  the  excursion  steamer,  and  the 
picnic  ground,  furnishing  a  further  illustration  of  the 
absolute  necessity  of  social  control  to  prevent  social 
disaster.  In  an  unregulated  competition,  the  majority 
is  at  the  mercy  of  the  minority.  The  need  of  control 
is  now  more  and  more  widely  recognized,  and  is  being 
met  in  two  ways ;  by  the  provision  of  public  facilities 
for  recreation,  and  by  the  municipal  control  and  super- 
vision of  private  enterprises.  One  of  the  most  significant 
manifestations  of  this  tendency  is  the  movement  for 
municipal  social  centers,125  such  as  that  of  Chicago,  and 
the  wider  use  of  the  public  school  buildings. 

Vices  of  self-gratification.  Like  every  powerful  de- 
sire, the  desire  for  the  sense  of  well-being  has  developed 
its  associated  vices,  some  of  them  exceptionally  char- 
acteristic of  vice  as  a  whole.  The  most  serious  of  these 
vices  gather  about  the  use  of  certain  natural  substances 
which  have  the  power  of  inducing  an  artificial  or  spurious 
sense  of  well-being,  particularly  alcohol  and  opium. 
These  substances  are  especially  effective  in  fostering 
vice  because  they  are  by  nature  habit-forming  and  de- 
structive. The  individual  who  resorts  to  the  use  of 
these  substances  for  the  sake  of  inducing  a  certain  state 
of  mind  finds  that  it  becomes  increasingly  difficult  for 
him  to  reach  that  state  of  mind  without  the  drug,  that  a 


306  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

constantly  increasing  indulgence  is  required  to  secure  a 
given  amount  of  gratification,  and  that  indulgence  is 
exerting  a  destructive  influence  on  one  or  more  of  his 
natural  endowments  or  capacities. 

Alcohol.  Alcohol  is  typical  of  these  substances,  and 
furnishes  an  excellent  example  of  the  necessity  and  justi- 
fication of  social  control,  even  legal  control,  of  vice,  and 
affords  an  effective  refutation  of  the  common  assertion 
that  vice,  being  primarily  an  individual  matter,  lies 
outside  the  domain  of  proper  state  activity.  There  are 
two  chief  reasons  for  the  social  control  of  the  use  of 
alcohol ;  first,  society  cannot  afford  to  allow  its  members 
to  injure  and  destroy  themselves  any  more  than  it  can 
afford  to  allow  them  to  injure  and  destroy  others  — 
the  soundness  of  society  demands  the  highest  degree  of 
soundness  and  efficiency  on  the  part  of  each  of  its  mem- 
bers; second,  alcohol  has  the  effect  of  diminishing  or 
destroying  personal  responsibih'ty,  and  the  whole  social 
edifice  rests  upon  responsibility.  This  latter  point  merits 
special  attention. 

It  has  been  observed  that  the  fundamental  classifica- 
tion of  abnormal  acts  and  of  abnormal  individuals  rests 
upon  the  assumption  of  responsibility.  For  every 
voluntary  act  there  must  be  responsibility  somewhere; 
if  any  individual  is  known  to  lack  the  ordinary  degree  of 
responsibility,  he  is  at  once  placed  in  a  special  category 
of  abnormals,  and  is  (or  should  be)  placed  under  such 
restraint  that  society  itself  can  thereafter  assume  the 
responsibility  for  his  conduct.  Any  practice,  therefore, 
which  robs  men  of  their  responsibility  is  a  fit  object  for 
social  control.  Society  cannot  escape  the  burden  of 
responsibility  for  attending  to  such  matters.  Any 
society  which  follows  a  laissez-faire  policy  and  refuses 


THE   ESTHETIC   LIFE  307 

to  place  restrictions  upon  the  practice  simply  finds  it- 
self confronted  with  the  ultimate  responsibility  for  the 
acts  of  those  of  its  members  whom  it  has  allowed  to 
destroy  their  personal  responsibility.  Societies  partially 
admit  this  dilemma  by  punishing  a  given  crime  more 
leniently  if  it  is  shown  that  the  perpetrator  was  under 
the  influence  of  liquor  at  the  time.  Sometimes  society 
seeks  to  shirk  its  accountability  by  shifting  the  blame 
upon  the  man  who  sold  the  liquor.  Thus  the  Illinois 
Supreme  Court  awarded  damages  against  a  saloon  keeper 
for  $3000  in  favor  of  the  wife  of  a  man  who  became  drunk 
on  liquor  secured  from  this  saloon  keeper,  and  while 
drunk  was  robbed  of  a  pay  envelope  which  had  originally 
contained  $85,  and  from  which  he  had  spent  at  least 
$io.126  This  scarcely  seems  like  a  square  deal  on  the 
face  of  it.  A  society  which  licenses  a  man  to  sell  a 
drug,  the  characteristics  of  which  are  well  known, 
should  either  itself  accept  full  responsibility  for  the 
injuries  which  result,  or  else  should  have  it  clearly 
understood  in  advance  that  the  dealer  accepted  the 
full  responsibility  for  all  injuries  resulting,  at  a  just 
and  fixed  rate  of  compensation,  and  without  necessity 
of  court  procedure. 

A  rather  startling  illustration  of  the  principle  in  ques- 
tion occurred  at  a  Christmas  celebration  in  the  city  of 
Calumet,  Michigan,  a  few  years  ago.  While  a  group 
of  men,  women,  and  children  were  gathered  about  a 
Christmas  tree  in  a  small  hall,  an  intoxicated  man  thrust 
his  head  in  the  door  and  shouted,  "Fire."  The  result 
was  a  panic  in  which  eighty  lives  were  lost.127  For 
such  a  catastrophe  there  must  be  accountability  some- 
where. The  lives  of  those  victims  —  many  of  whom 
were  little  children  —  are  upon  some  one's  head.  And 


308  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

the  logical  culprit  is  society  itself,  which  allows  such 
things  to  occur. 

Not  all  of  the  injuries  of  course  which  result  from  the 
use  of  alcohol  are  of  such  a  striking  character,  or  so  easily 
traceable  to  their  source  as  the  foregoing;  they  are  al- 
most infinite  in  variety,  and  wholly  incalculable  in  their 
total  cost  in  human  misery,  suffering,  and  death.  No 
one  has  ever  yet  made  even  an  approximate  reckoning 
of  the  causative  influence  of  alcohol  for  abused  and 
neglected  wives  and  children,  ruined  homes,  wasted 
opportunities,  and  squandered  talents,  vice,  crime,  disease 
and  death.  Such  a  reckoning,  however  desirable,  is 
not  necessary  for  clarifying  the  principles  involved; 
every  one  knows  that  the  amount  of  suffering  due  to 
alcohol  is  sufficient  to  justify  society  in  taking  whatever 
steps  are  most  promising  for  the  elimination  of  the  evil. 

The  problem  of  the  social  control  of  alcoholism  is 
therefore  not  one  of  principle  but  of  expediency.  The 
whole  question  resolves  itself  into  the  search  for  the  most 
efficacious  means  of  preventing  the  evils  which  arise 
from  the  use  of  alcohol,  with  the  minimum  degree  of 
interference  with  established  ideas,  beliefs,  and  mores. 
Of  course  the  old  argument  of  individual  rights  and 
liberties  is  advanced  in  this  connection,  but  it  has  no 
more  weight  here  than  in  any  other  department  of  social 
life  —  which  is  to  say,  none  at  all.  No  individual  has 
any  right  to  indulge  in  any  practice  which  injures,  or 
even  threatens,  social  welfare;  the  interests  of  society 
rise  paramount  to  those  of  any  individual. 

Prohibition.  The  social  expedient  for  the  regulation 
of  the  use  of  alcohol  which  has  received  the  largest 
adherence  in  recent  years  is  the  device  known  as  pro- 
hibition. Like  most  laws  dealing  with  matters  of  this 


THE   ESTHETIC   LIFE  309 

kind,  prohibitory  measures  are  aimed,  not  at  the  un- 
desirable act  itself,  nor  at  the  individual  who  commits  the 
act,  but  at  the  individual  who  makes  the  act  possible  by 
providing  the  means.  We  do  not  pass  laws  against 
drinking  alcoholic  beverages,  nor  against  drinking 
them  to  excess,  but  against  the  sale  of  the  beverages. 
This,  of  course,  is  quite  illogical  in  the  abstract,  though 
it  is  perhaps  necessitated  by  practical  expediency  and 
by  our  legal  traditions  and  ideas.  If  the  use  of  alcohol 
is  a  bad  or  dangerous  thing,  the  straightforward  procedure 
would  be  to  forbid  the  use  of  alcohol,  and  to  penalize 
those  who  violate  the  prohibition.  Unless  society  is 
ready  to  assume  the  full  responsibility  for  the  results  of 
alcoholism,  it  might  be  beneficial  to  make  individuals 
accountable  before  the  law  for  all  their  acts,  as  much 
when  drunk  as  when  sober,  thereby  holding  the  individual 
responsible  for  getting  into  a  state  of  irresponsibility. 

The  whole  question  of  prohibition  is  still  in  an  experi- 
mental state.  It  is  not  necessary  in  this  connection  to 
go  into  the  detailed  arguments  for  and  against  it.  The 
point  to  be  noted  is  that  the  valid  arguments  against 
prohibition  must  demonstrate,  not  that  prohibition  vio- 
lates natural  rights,  and  is  an  unwarranted  extension  of 
state  interference,  but  that  prohibition  will  not  secure 
the  desired  results.  Neither  is  it  germane  to  the  question 
to  assert  that  "you  cannot  make  people  good  by  law." 
The  prohibition  movement,  rightly  interpreted,  is  not 
a  moral  propaganda,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  good- 
ness ;  it  is  a  prophylactic  movement,  aimed  at  social 
safety  and  soundness.  In  other  words,  when  the  state 
undertakes  to  deal  with  vice,  it  does  so  not  because  vice 
is  wicked,  but  because  it  is  dangerous  and  destructive. 
If  social  evils  can  be  eliminated,  it  is  a  matter  of  indiffer- 


3io  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

ence  from  the  strictly  legal  point  of  view,  whether  indi- 
viduals are  morally  any  better  or  not.  There  is  ample 
ground  for  attack  on  the  present  liquor  situation  from 
the  point  of  view  of  morality ;  but  it  should  not  be  con- 
fused with  the  justification  of  prohibition.  It  is  signifi- 
cant in  this  connection  that  such  progress  as  has  been 
made  in  recent  years  in  the  way  of  reducing  the  consump- 
tion of  alcoholic  drinks,  is  probably  attributable  much 
more  largely  to  education  —  that  is,  the  dissemination  of 
scientific  knowledge  as  to  the  nature  and  effects  of  alcohol 
—  than  to  moral  suasion  or  legal  restraint.  The  appeal 
that  counts  first  of  all  is  the  appeal  to  self-interest. 

The  question  of  the  desirability  of  prohibition,  and  of 
the  most  efficacious  forms  of  prohibition,  is  still  in  the 
balance.  Some  few  general  principles,  however,  seem 
to  have  been  already  well  established.  There  appears 
to  be  no  reason  to  hope  that  the  most  carefully  framed 
prohibitory  law  will  work  in  a  community  where  public 
sentiment  is  opposed  to  it.  It  is  also,  apparently, 
possible  to  have  a  public  sentiment  sufficiently  in  the 
majority  to  secure  the  passage  of  a  prohibitory  law,  but 
not  adequate  to  its  enforcement.  The  state  of  Maine 
furnishes  a  notorious  example  of  this  situation.  Further- 
more, a  wise  and  scientific  prohibition  movement  must 
recognize  that  the  saloon  has  other  social  functions  than 
the  dispensing  of  liquor,  and  the  abolition  of  the  saloon 
must  be  accompanied  by  the  establishment  of  some  in- 
nocuous substitute. 

In  the  meantime  various  large  business  concerns  are 
taking  up  the  question  independently,  and  are  enforcing 
prohibitory  regulations  upon  their  employees  of  a  severity 
which  the  most  radical  prohibitionist  could  hardly  outdo. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that  we  all  approve  of  such  measures, 


THE   ESTHETIC  LIFE  311 

if  instituted  by  private  initiative.  We  all  feel  safer  on 
ships  and  railroads  if  we  know  the  employees  are  not 
allowed  to  drink.  The  "safety  first"  movement  is  lead- 
ing manufacturers  to  seek  to  remove  saloons  from  the 
vicinity  of  their  plants. 

Habit-forming  drugs.  The  case  of  alcoholism  illustrates 
sufficiently  well  the  principles  which  underlie  the  correct 
social  attitude  toward  the  allied  vices.  The  question  of 
habit-forming  drugs  has  recently  attracted  large  public 
attention  in  the  United  States,  following  startling  revela- 
tions as  to  the  prevalence  of  the  vicious  use  of  these 
substances.  In  fact,  it  is  easier  to  recognize  the  validity 
of  the  principles  involved  in  the  case  of  opium  and  similar 
drugs,  than  in  the  case  of  alcohol,  although  they  are 
essentially  the  same  in  both  cases.  This  is  probably 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  evils  accompanying  the  use  of 
opiates  are  much  more  obvious,  and  the  extenuating  or 
alleviating  accompaniments  are  practically  lacking.  It 
is  significant  that  long  before  the  United  States  is  ready 
for  a  federal  prohibition  law,  it  has  passed  (1915)  and 
is  enforcing  a  law  imposing  rigid  restrictions  upon  the 
dispensing  of  certain  drugs  of  the  opium  class.128 

Tobacco.  Any  problem  in  this  general  field  may  be 
analyzed  on  the  basis  of  these  general  principles.  Take 
the  question  of  tobacco.  The  first  step  in  the  solution  of 
the  tobacco  problem  is  the  determination  of  the  question 
whether  tobacco  using  is  a  vice.  This  is  a  matter  for 
science,  and  involves  the  study  of  the  character  of  tobacco 
and  its  effects  upon  the  human  system.  If  it  appears  that 
there  is  no  vice,  the  matter  ends  there.  If,  however,  it 
appears  that  the  use  of  tobacco  presents  the  characteristic 
features  of  vice,  the  question  next  arises  as  to  how  serious 
a  vice  it  is,  i.e.  to  what  extent  it  occasions  social  evils. 


312  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

If  it  appears  that  there  are  some  social  evils,  the  final 
question  is  whether  they  are  of  a  nature  which  makes 
them  amenable  to  social  control ;  if  so,  what  method  of 
social  control  is  most  expedient ;  and  whether  the  good 
to  be  accomplished  by  social  control  is  sufficient  to 
offset  the  evils  always  incident  to  state  control  of  vice, 
including  the  violated  sense  of  personal  liberty.  In  every 
case,  public  opinion  must  be  taken  into  account. 

Luxury.  Self-gratification  carried  to  an  extreme  is 
called  luxury.  It  goes  without  saying  that  luxury  is 
purely  a  relative  matter ;  what  is  luxury  in  one  society 
is  merely  simple  comfort  in  another.  The  signifi- 
cant question  about  luxury  is  whether  it  should  be 
classed  as  abnormal  or  not.  If  abnormal,  it  must  be 
either  a  sin  or  a  maladjustment.  For  luxury  is  certainly 
not  a  vice,  though  it  often  manifests  itself  in  vicious 
forms.  Neither  is  it  a  crime,  except  in  so  far  as  the  now 
infrequent  sumptuary  laws  make  it  so.  The  question 
of  the  practical  treatment  of  luxury  hinges  on  whether 
it  is  to  be  regarded  as  wrong  or  not.  Some  writers 
frankly  regard  it  as  a  maladjustment.  Thus  Jona- 
than T.  Lincoln  writes,  "Poverty  and  Luxury  —  these 
are  the  diseases  of  our  industrial  regime,  to  the  cure  of 
which  the  Socialists  offer  their  ineffectual  remedy.  .  .  . 
Condemnation  of  luxury  ...  is  not  condemnation  of 
wealth.  Luxury  is  a  disease  merely." m  In  this 
view,  luxury  is  merely  one  of  the  logical  concomitants 
of  the  existing  organization  of  society,  with  its  wide 
diversities  in  the  distribution  of  wealth,  for  which  no 
one  can  be  held  personally  responsible.  Others,  how- 
ever, seem  to  consider  luxury,  in  part  at  least,  sinful. 
The  following  passage  from  Ruskin  implies  that  there  is 
some  guilty  luxury:  "Consider  whether,  even  supposing 


THE   ESTHETIC   LIFE  313 

it  guiltless,  luxury  would  be  desired  by  any  of  us  if  we 
saw  clearly  at  our  sides  the  suffering  which  accompanies 
it  in  the  world.  .  .  .  Luxury  at  present  can  be  only 
enjoyed  by  the  ignorant ;  the  crudest  man  living  could 
not  sit  at  his  feast  unless  he  sat  blindfold."  13° 

Yet  it  would  be  difficult  in  the  extreme  to  make  out  a 
logical  case  for  the  sinfulness  of  luxury.  Luxury  is  the 
use  of  wealth,  and  if  sinful,  must  harm  some  one.  Yet 
much  luxury  is  absolutely  harmless,  both  to  those  who 
enjoy  it  and  to  the  remainder  of  society.  While  it 
may  be  argued  that  luxury  arouses  envy  and  discontent 
on  the  part  of  the  less  fortunate  members  of  society,  yet 
envy  and  discontent  are  not  necessarily  evils  in  them- 
selves, but  in  many  cases  are  essential  conditions  for 
social  progress.  If  there  is  any  sinfulness  in  the  matter 
at  all,  it  must  be  in  the  ownership  of  wealth,  and  not  in 
its  use.  For  as  long  as  society  sanctions  private  owner- 
ship of  wealth,  it  would  be  impossible  to  draw  a  line 
between  the  harmless  enjoyment  of  that  wealth  which  is 
sinful,  and  the  harmless  enjoyment  of  wealth  which  is 
not  sinful.  The  rich  man  is  no  more  guilty  in  spending 
his  large  income  for  the  things  that  will  give  him  pleasure 
than  is  the  poor  man  in  spending  his  small  income.  Yet 
there  can  certainly  be  no  sin  in  owning  wealth  under  the 
full  sanction  of  the  laws  and  mores  of  society.  To  say 
that  it  is  right  to  own  wealth  without  limit,  but  that 
large  incomes  should  be  spent  in  part  for  the  pleasure  of 
other  people,  is  merely  to  quibble.  For  the  ownership 
of  wealth  which  carries  with  it  a  duty  or  obligation  to 
use  it  for  others,  is  no  real  ownership  at  all.  Luxury, 
in  itself,  cannot  be  called  sinful,  and  the  fact  that  many 
persons  who  receive  large  incomes  prefer  to  use  them 
in  part  for  the  happiness  of  others  does  not  brand  as 


3H  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

guilty  those  who  choose  to  use  their  entire  incomes  for 
themselves. 

It  follows  that  if  luxury  is  abnormal  at  all,  it  is  a 
maladjustment.  Yet  this  assumption  is  almost  as  diffi- 
cult to  support  as  the  former.  For,  as  has  been  shown, 
luxury  is  the  logical  and  inevitable  accompaniment  of 
the  existing  normal  organization  of  society,  and  anything 
which  is  a  necessary  result  of  the  normal  constitution  of 
society  cannot  itself  be  abnormal.  The  only  logical 
conclusion  appears  to  be  that  luxury,  like  poverty,  is 
one  of  the  normal,  though  perhaps  undesirable,  aspects 
of  the  life  of  to-day.  Luxury  and  poverty  are  the  two 
extremes  of  the  standard  of  living  of  modern  societies. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE   INTELLECTUAL   AND    SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

Education  and  religion.  The  two  chief  social  insti- 
tutions which  have  grown  up  out  of  man's  desire  to 
explain  the  phenomena  of  life  are  education  and  re- 
ligion, the  one  dealing  primarily  with  those  phenomena 
which  can  be  apprehended  by  the  physical  senses,  the 
other  devoting  itself  to  the  effort  to  comprehend  the 
unseen  and  immaterial  phenomena  of  the  universe  and 
to  establish  right  relationships  with  the  Supreme  Being 
who  is  believed  to  be  behind  and  above  them. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  these  two  interests  had  an 
identical  origin,*  perhaps  no  feature  of  the  modern  situ- 
ation is  more  significant  than  the  completeness  of  the 
separation  which  now  exists  between  them.  There  is, 
of  course,  a  specialized  religious  education,  and  much 
secular  education  is  still  carried  on  under  religious  aus- 
pices; but  nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  modern 
thought  than  the  conviction  that  education  in  general 
should  be  a  thing  apart  from  religion,  and  should  be 
primarily  the  charge  of  the  state.  Every  advanced 
state  now  has  its  public  school  system,  from  which  is 
excluded,  more  and  more,  the  teaching  even  of  the 
simplest  general  religious  doctrines,  the  underlying  idea, 
doubtless,  being  that  the  nature  of  religious  principles  is 
such  that  they  cannot  be  demonstrated  with  a  com- 
pleteness which  will  secure  acceptance  by  all  competent 
*  See  page  15. 


3i6  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

minds.  Particularly  in  democracies  is  free,  compulsory 
general  education  regarded  as  essential  to  the  solidity 
and  permanence  of  government. 

So  uniform  are  the  authoritative  opinions  with  refer- 
ence to  the  validity  of  the  modern  conception  of  educa- 
tion that  it  would  seem  that  in  this  particular,  at  least, 
society  had  nearly  achieved  the  ideal  as  far  as  general 
outlines  are  concerned.  To  be  sure,  there  is  an  ele- 
ment of  maladjustment  and  anachronism  in  the  typical 
public  school  curriculum,  and  there  is  room  for  a  better 
adjustment  of  subjects  and  methods  of  teaching  to 
twentieth  century  conditions ;  the  movements  for  trade 
schools,  manual  training,  continuation  schools,  vo- 
cational guidance,  etc.,  are  evidences  of  the  recognition 
of  the  inadequacy  of  the  old-fashioned  system,  and  the 
effort  to  bring  it  up  to  date.  But  there  are  few,  if 
any,  vitally  menacing  evils  connected  with  education, 
or  fundamental  public  problems  demanding  solution. 

Intellectual  abnormality.  The  entire  domain  of  the 
intellectual  life  presents  no  distinctive  forms  of  im- 
morality; even  sinful  thoughts  are  practically  always 
concerned  with  some  of  the  other  great  interests  of  life. 
The  chief  forms  of  abnormality  in  this  field  are  instances 
of  incapacity  —  ignorance,  insanity,  feeble-mindedness, 
etc.  Ignorance  is  curable,  and  the  public  school  sys- 
tem represents  society's  effort  to  eliminate  this  type  of 
evil.  Feeble-mindedness  is  incurable  in  the  individual,* 
and  is  to  be  eliminated  from  society  only  by  eugenic 
measures.  As  long  as  cases  of  feeble-mindedness  exist, 
the  duty  of  society  is  to  care  for  them  as  efficiently  and 
humanely  as  possible,  and  to  prevent  their  procreation. 
Insanity  may  be  curable  or  incurable ;  it  appears  to  be 
*  With  the  probable  exception  of  Cretinism. 


THE  INTELLECTUAL  AND   SPIRITUAL  LIFE    317 

a  social  evil  intensified  by  the  strain,  speed,  and  tension 
of  modern  life.  Particularly  in  the  United  States  is  the 
burden  of  insanity  enormously  increased  by  the  host 
of  foreign-born  residents  whose  mentality  breaks  down 
under  the  strain  of  an  unwontedly  exacting  human 
environment.  Of  the  insane  persons  enumerated  in 
hospitals  in  1910,  28.8  per  cent  were  foreign  born  — 
nearly  twice  the  proportional  representation  of  this 
element  in  the  population.131 

The  modern  mew  of  religion.  Perhaps  the  most  char- 
acteristic feature  of  the  modern  religious  situation  in  the 
lands  of  western  civilization  is  the  increasing  tendency 
to  regard  religion  as  a  personal  rather  than  a  social  mat- 
ter. This  is  probably  traceable  to  the  separation  of 
church  and  state,  and  to  the  emphasis  laid  by  the  Chris- 
tian religion  on  the  personal  aspects  of  religion  —  per- 
sonal morality,  personal  faith,  and  personal  salvation. 
The  result  has  been  that  religion  has  lost  much  of  the 
social  significance  which  it  had  in  an  earlier  time,  or  in 
the  more  backward  nations  of  to-day,  as,  for  instance, 
in  modern  Greece,  where  a  man  is  born  into  his  re- 
ligion just  as  much  as  into  his  nationality,  and  the 
national  religion  serves  as  a  great  unifying  force. 

In  a  still  more  primitive  stage  of  human  evolution, 
as  has  been  observed,  religion  exercises  an  influence 
vastly  exceeding  that  which  it  holds  in  modern  so- 
cieties ;  it  practically  dominates  the  life  of  the  savage, 
whose  entire  philosophy  of  natural  phenomena  is  es- 
sentially religious,  and  whose  efforts  to  control  natural 
events  partake  of  the  nature  of  worship.  As  knowledge 
of  the  material  world  has  increased,  and  science  has 
diverged  from  religion,  men  have  come  to  seek  to  con- 
trol material  phenomena  on  the  basis  of  physical  forces 


3i8  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

and  natural  laws,  and  the  realm  of  religion  has  been 
progressively  narrowed  until  it  now  includes  only  the 
purely  spiritual  phenomena  and  relationships.  Aside 
from  its  personal  significance  in  connection  with  the 
relationship  between  the  individual  and  the  Supreme 
Being,  the  chief  social  function  of  religion  in  the  present 
day  is  the  maintenance  and  cultivation  of  morality, 
and  the  providing,  as  Benjamin  Kidd  has  shown,132  ultra- 
rational  sanctions  for  altruistic  conduct.  It  would  be 
impossible  to  determine  just  what  portion  of  our  readi- 
ness to  sacrifice  personal  welfare  for  the  sake  of  others, 
especially  in  the  interest  of  future  generations,  is  due 
to  a  strictly  religious  motive;  but  it  is  unquestionably 
a  very  large  portion.  This  is  not  to  say  that  it  is  merely 
the  belief  in  a  future  life  of  rewards  and  punishments, 
and  the  crass  conviction  that  a  little  sacrifice  here  will 
be  compensated  for  by  great  blessing  hereafter,  that 
lead  people  to  practice  unselfish  conduct.  It  is  rather 
the  faith  that  there  is  an  inclusive  plan  for  the  universe, 
and  an  ultimate  significance  in  human  life,  which  ex- 
tends beyond  the  narrow  confines  of  time  and  sense,  and 
reveals  the  short  span  of  life  on  this  earth  as  merely  a 
single  phase  in  the  great  current  of  existence.  How- 
ever interpreted  by  different  individuals  or  different 
sects,  there  can  be  no  question  that  religion  still  holds 
a  tremendously  important  place  in  the  life  of  modern 
society  as  one  of  the  few  institutions  which  are  fitted  to 
deal  with  problems  on  a  strictly  moral  and  ethical 
basis,  and  to  inculcate  altruistic  and  unselfish  ideals  in 
the  minds  of  the  members  of  society.  Many  reforms 
dealing  with  evils  unsuited  to  state  control  would  be 
practically  impossible  without  the  support  of  what  is 
intrinsically  the  religious  motive. 


THE   INTELLECTUAL  AND   SPIRITUAL  LIFE    319 

As  religion  has  withdrawn  within  a  narrower  and 
narrower  sphere,  its  distinctive  forms  of  abnormality 
have  diminished  in  social  significance  until  they  have 
almost  ceased  to  exist  as  social  factors.  Religion  is 
still  alert  to  detect  and  attack  all  forms  of  social  evil; 
but  distinctive  religious  sins,  such  as  heresy  and  athe- 
ism, religious  crimes,  such  as  worshiping  forbidden 
gods  (i.e.  the  Moors  in  Spain),  religious  vices,  such  as 
immolation  and  asceticism,  and  religious  incompetence, 
such  as  fanaticism  and  superstition,  trouble  modern  so- 
cieties but  little.  As  far  as  wrangling  and  conflict 
about  these  matters  still  persists,  it  is  confined  largely 
within  sectarian  circles,  and  scarcely  disturbs  the  gen- 
eral current  of  social  life. 

The  maladjustment  of  religion.  The  outstanding  ab- 
normality of  a  definitely  religious  type  in  the  societies 
of  western  civilization  is  in  the  nature  of  a  maladjust- 
ment, arising  from  one  of  the  characteristic  features  of 
religion  in  general,  viz.,  its  extreme  conservatism,  and 
seriously  handicapping  religion  in  its  effort  to  fulfill  its 
chief  function  in  society.  It  is  not  necessary  in  this 
connection  to  examine  the  origins  of  the  conservative 
element  in  religion;  its  existence  is  unquestioned,  and 
the  task  of  applied  sociology  is  to  note  the  manner  in 
which  conservatism  hampers  the  efficient  action  of  the 
religious  institutions  of  society.  This  phenomenon  is 
of  course  especially  marked  in  a  dynamic  society,  where 
almost  all  the  institutions  of  life  are  changing,  and  the 
mores  are  undergoing  constant  modification.  In  such 
a  society,  any  established  and  formulated  religion  in- 
evitably appears  backward  and  out-of-date,  having  re- 
ceived its  distinctive  features  in  an  earlier  stage  of 
cultural  evolution,  and  bearing  the  impress  of  an  ante- 


320  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

cedent  group  of  mores.  These  facts  are  well  illustrated 
by  the  situation  of  the  various  sects  of  the  Christian 
religion  in  the  lands  of  western  civilization. 

The  Christian  religion  received  its  outward  form  and 
concrete  expression  two  thousand  years  ago  amid  a 
people  whose  social  organization,  modes  of  thought, 
and  habits  of  expression  differed  radically  from  those 
of  modern  nations.  Miss  Semple  says,  "If  the  sacred 
literature  of  Judaism  and  Christianity  take  weak  hold 
upon  the  western  mind,  this  is  largely  because  it  is 
written  in  the  symbolism  of  the  pastoral  nomad.  Its 
figures  of  speech  reflect  life  in  deserts  and  grasslands. 
For  these  figures  the  western  mind  has  few  or  vague 
corresponding  ideas.  It  loses,  therefore,  half  the  im- 
port, for  instance,  of  the  Twenty- third  Psalm." 133 
But  this  is  not  all.  The  language  of  the  sacred  books  of 
the  Christian  religion  is  not  only  that  of  pastoral  no- 
mads. It  is  also  that  of  war  and  despotism,  as  is  also 
the  diction  of  the  prayers  and  hymns  which  follow  the 
Biblical  pattern.  A  few  examples  will  make  this  clear. 
The  common  appellations  for  Christ  are  "Lord,"  "Lord 
of  Hosts,"  "Master,"  "King,"  "Prince,"  "Leader." 
His  worshipers  style  themselves  his  "followers,"  "  serv- 
ants," "soldiers,"  "messengers,"  "stewards,"  etc.  The 
Christian  life  is  represented  as  a  warfare,  or  as  the 
orderly  working  of  a  great  royal  household,  with  loyal 
servants  always  ready  to  do  the  master's  bidding. 
Among  our  favorite  hymns  are  "Onward  Christian 
Soldiers,"  "Fight  the  Good  Fight,"  "Hold  the  Fort," 
and  "Oh  Worship  the  King !"  These  figures  of  speech, 
as  well  as  those  based  upon  the  idea  of  the  shepherd  and 
his  sheep,  originally  possessed  great  utility  in  vitalizing 
the  relation  between  God  and  man,  and  clarifying  the 


popular  conception  of  the  nature  of  the  religious  life 
and  obligations.  But  in  a  society  organized  on  an  in- 
dustrial and  democratic  basis  the  symbolism  and  imagery 
of  the  Christian  church  not  only  do  not  clarify,  they 
actually  confuse ;  and  expositions  and  commentaries 
must  be  provided  to  afford  the  average  reader  of  to-day 
an  adequate  insight  into  the  meaning  of  Scripture. 

The  element  of  anachronism  in  the  Christian  re- 
ligion is  more  than  mere  terminology,  it  permeates  the 
entire  system  of  forms,  ritual,  and  ceremony.  As  em- 
bodied in  the  formulated  sects  of  to-day,  the  Christian 
religion  is  essentially  pastoral,  patriarchal,  militaristic, 
despotic,  and  feudalistic,  and  therefore  fails  to  appeal 
to  the  citizen  of  an  industrial  democracy  as  a  vital 
and  practical  thing.  All  the  paraphernalia  of  thrones, 
crowns,  diadems,  armor,  and  blood-red  banners  arouse 
no  response  in  the  mind  or  heart  of  the  day  laborer,  the 
clerk,  or  the  mechanic  —  they  are  symbols  without 
significance.  Even  the  relationship  between  father  and 
son  is  a  very  different  thing  in  the  twentieth  century  from 
what  it  was  amid  the  people  to  whom  Christ  spoke.  In 
short,  in  so  far  as  modern  life  is  dominated  by  peace, 
democracy,  and  capitalistic  industry,  the  Christian 
Church  is  trying  to  interpret  herself  to  the  common  man 
in  a  dead  language. 

Fortunately  for  Christianity,  and  for  the  world,  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  this  religion,  as  embodied  in 
the  actual  teachings  of  its  founder,  are  neither  local 
nor  epochal,  but  express  principles  of  personal  and 
social  life,  which  are  enduring  and  of  wide  application, 
perhaps  eternal  and  universal.  This  fact  alone  has 
enabled  the  Christian  religion  to  hold  its  place  in  the 
/  face  of  revolutionary  changes  in  social  organization, 

Y 


322  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

and  the  periodic  interpretations  and  formulations  of 
sectarian  leaders.  Christ  himself,  while  forced  to  use 
the  language  of  the  people  among  whom  he  lived,134 
laid  special  stress  upon  the  more  enduring  relationships 
of  father  and  son,  brother,  and  friend.  "Henceforth 
I  call  you  not  servants  .  .  .  but  I  have  called  you 
friends." 

From  the  point  of  view  of  practical  social  policy,  the 
most  discouraging  feature  of  the  whole  situation  is  that, 
because  of  the  very  fact  that  religion  is  so  essentially 
conservative,  the  effort  to  bring  Christianity  into  per- 
fect accord  with  the  facts  of  life  in  an  industrial  de- 
mocracy meets  seemingly  insuperable  obstacles.  The 
attempt,  for  instance,  to  re-phrase  the  figures  of  speech 
of  the  Bible,  of  hymns,  and  of  prayer,  to  fit  the  cor- 
responding relationships  of  modern  life  would  certainly 
not  be  successful.  To  call  Christ  "employer,"  "man- 
ager," "president,"  "entrepreneur,"  or  "representative," 
and  his  followers  "hired  men,"  "employees,"  "hands," 
"clerks,"  or  "constituents"  would  strike  the  most 
modern  ear  as  ludicrous  if  not  sacrilegious.  To  speak 
of  the  religious  life  as  an  "enterprise"  or  a  "busi- 
ness," and  of  bodies  of  worshipers  as  "corporations"  or 
"parties"  would  add  nothing  to  the  appeal  of  religion. 
Yet  these  terms  are  the  nearest  modern  equivalents  to 
the  figures  used  in  the  traditional  diction  of  Christianity. 
The  simple  fact  is  that  the  human  relationships  which 
furnished  at  least  a  partial  analogue  to  the  relation  be- 
tween God  and  man  have  disappeared  from  the  societies 
of  western  civilization,  and  there  exists  no  available 
parallel. 

A  thoroughly  commendable  and  partially  successful 
effort  is  being  made  by  the  advanced  leaders  of  the 


THE  INTELLECTUAL   AND   SPIRITUAL  LIFE    323 

Christian  churches  to  devise  means  and  methods  of 
vitalizing  the  message  of  religion  to  the  common  man 
of  the  twentieth  century.  The  activities  typified  by 
the  institutional  church  represent  the  attempt  to  give 
religion  a  real  meaning  and  utility  to  each  class  of  so- 
ciety. It  is  interesting  to  note,  in  passing,  that  the 
temporary  ascendancy  of  military  interests  in  European 
society  has  apparently  been  accompanied  by  a  recru- 
descence of  religious  spirit  and  devotion,  according  to 
the  reports  from  various  countries.  The  hope  of  ul- 
timate success  in  the  effort  to  modernize  the  function 
of  the  church  is  found  in  the  flexibility  and  adaptability 
of  the  Christian  religion  itself.  Every  age  has  its  special 
problems,  and  a  religion  which  is  to  be  a  social  force 
must  be  prepared  to  modify  its  methods  and  teachings 
to  correspond  to  the  needs  of  each  new  epoch.  It  is 
this  necessity  which  brings  out  the  difference,  and  actual 
conflict,  between  essential  Religion  and  formulated  re- 
ligions. In  so  far  as  Religion  is  a  permanent  social  force, 
it  is  equally  potent  to  meet  the  needs  of  every  new 
aspect  of  society;  but  in  the  effort  to  do  so  it  runs 
counter  to  the  interests  of  the  conventionalized  and 
stereotyped  religious  sects  of  preceding  periods.  His- 
tory probably  furnishes  no  more  significant  illustration 
of  this  truth  than  the  long  and  bitter  struggle  by  which 
the  church  doctrine  of  usury  was  made  to  harmonize 
with  the  modern  necessity  of  interest  as  an  economic 
expedient.  The  great  problem  is  how  to  interpret  re- 
ligious truths  in  the  light  of  new  conditions,  how  to 
disseminate  new  views  without  the  loss  of  devotion  and 
the  sense  of  authority,  and  how  to  enable  the  every- 
day man  to  abandon  cherished  religious  concepts  without 
abandoning  religion  itself.  In  the  way  of  progress 


324  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

stands  ever  the  hide-bound  sectarian,  singing  at  the  top 
of  his  lungs,  "  It's  the  old-time  religion,  and  it's  good 
enough  for  me." 

On  a  busy  street  corner  in  Boston  stands  a  large  brick 
church  building.  Its  architecture  is  solid  and  sober,  its 
walls  are  adorned  with  stained  glass  windows,  and  its 
towering  spire  points  heavenward.  But  covering  the 
sides  of  the  building  are  flamboyant  posters  announcing 
to  all  that  pass  by  that  within  may  be  seen  "The  World 
in  Motion,"  that  there  is  a  "High-Class  and  Refined 
Entertainment  for  Man,  Woman,  and  Child,"  and  that 
the  "Program  is  Changed  Daily."  The  temple  of  the 
Most  High  is  now  dedicated  to  the  Genius  of  the  Movies. 
And  the  most  significant  aspect  of  the  matter  is  that 
whereas,  when  the  edifice  ceased  to  be  devoted  to  its 
original  purpose,  it  was  probably  attracting  a  few 
scattered  handfuls  of  attendants  once  or  twice  on  Sun- 
day, it  now  draws  crowds  every  afternoon  and  evening 
—  and  they  pay  to  get  in.  It  is  evident  that  the  man- 
agers of  the  building  are  now  "giving  the  people  what 
they  want." 

How  shall  the  church  give  the  people  what  they 
want,  and  how  shall  the  people  be  made  to  want  what 
the  church  ought  to  give  them  ?  These  are  the  problems 
of  the  Christian  church  in  an  industrial  democracy  of 
the  twentieth  century. 


CHAPTER  XX 

CONCLUSION 

Outstanding  principles.  To  attempt  to  summarize 
the  general  laws  and  principles  which  underlie  efforts 
for  improvement  in  organized  society  would  be 
premature.  A  survey  of  the  general  field  discloses  con- 
flicting standards,  contrary  methods,  warring  convic- 
tions, and  a  good  deal  of  absolute  chaos.  The  study 
of  applied  sociology  is  still  too  much  in  its  infancy  to 
warrant  any  complete  statement  of  inductions.  A 
large  part  of  the  study  itself  is  the  effort  to  arrive  at  sound 
and  tenable  inductions  on  the  basis  of  the  facts  already 
collected  and  classified. 

Increasing  need  of  social  control.  There  are,  however, 
a  few  principles  which  seem  already  to  have  risen  far 
enough  above  the  level  of  hypothesis  to  merit  statement 
in  a  somewhat  dogmatic  way.  Foremost  among  these 
principles  is  the  truth  that  increasing  complexity  in  the 
social  organization  necessitates  and  therefore  justifies 
increasing  social  control,  even  in  the  form  of  state  in- 
terference. As  the  relationships  between  the  individual 
and  his  human  environment  become  more  numerous 
and  complex,  the  dependence  of  each  upon  all  and  all 
upon  each  becomes  greater  and  more  vital.  Never  so 
truly  as  in  the  twentieth  century  could  it  have  been 
said  that  "No  man  liveth  unto  himself,  and  no  man 
dieth  unto  himself."  And  because  some  are  weak,  and 

325 


326  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

some  are  indifferent,  and  some  are  antisocial  in  dis- 
position, the  organized  force  of  society  must  more  and 
more  be  requisitioned  to  prevent  injury  and  promote 
welfare,  of  individuals,  and  of  society  itself. 

Abandonment  of  laissez  faire.  A  corollary  of  the  fore- 
going principle  is  the  complete  abandonment  of  the 
doctrine  of  laissez  faire  as  either  an  inclusive  philosophy 
of  life  or  the  starting  point  for  social  judgment,  which 
is  one  of  the  great  social  achievements  of  the  past  half- 
century.  Not  only  do  we  no  longer  accept  the  let-alone 
theory  as  a  comprehensive  working  hypothesis,  but  we 
do  not  even  accept  it  as  an  ideal,  departures  from  which 
are  to  be  regarded  as  concessions,  and  kept  down  to  the 
necessary  minimum. 

Abandonment  of  natural  rights.  Along  with  other 
impedimenta  of  a  past  epoch,  the  whole  notion  of  natural 
and  individual  rights  has  been  discarded.  The  only 
rights  now  recognized  are  social  rights,  and  in  every 
case  the  right  of  society  is  seen  to  rise  superior  to  the  right 
of  the  individual.  The  goal  of  all  human  effort  is  social 
welfare,  and  the  so-called  individual  rights  are  merely 
prerogatives  given  to  the  individual  by  society  because 
it  appears  that  social  welfare  can  best  be  promoted  in 
that  way.  Even  so  fundamental  a  right  as  the  right  to 
life  is  admitted  only  because,  and  only  to  the  extent  that, 
it  conduces  to  social  solidarity  and  progress. 

Devotion  to  society.  The  highest  altruistic  ideal  of  to- 
day is  devotion  to  the  interests  of  society.  It  is  a  pity 
that  there  is  no  word  in  common  use  to  designate  that 
ideal.  There  ought  to  be  some  term  to  indicate  a  de- 
votion to  all  mankind  analogous  to  the  devotion  to 
country  implied  in  the  conception  of  patriotism;  not 
the  false  and  outworn  patriotism  which  says,  "My 


CONCLUSION  327 

Country !  May  she  ever  be  right.  But,  right  or  wrong, 
My  Country!";  but  patriotism  in  its  highest  and  best 
sense.  Before  humanity  can  rest  secure  against  a  re- 
currence of  such  a  tragedy  as  is  now  transpiring  in  Eu- 
rope there  must  be  implanted  in  the  minds  of  men  of 
every  race  and  region  a  conception  of  the  solidarity  of 
the  human  species  as  a  whole.  The  ties  of  sympathy 
and  fellow  feeling  which  have  been  extended  from  the 
family  through  the  clan,  tribe,  and  small  state  to  the 
modern  nation,  must  receive  their  final  extension,  and 
be  made  to  include  the  entire  human  family.  The  sense 
of  devotion  and  kinship  must  become  generic,  not  na- 
tional or  racial.  The  object  of  one's  altruistic  efforts 
must  be  "The  Great  Society."  Such  a  sentiment 
certainly  merits  a  distinctive  name.  It  is  highly  unfor- 
tunate that  the  logical  term  has  already  been  appropri- 
ated to  designate  a  program  of  limited  application  and 
dubious  practicality;  this  is,  obviously,  "Socialism." 
"Socialism"  ought  to  be  one  of  the  grandest  words 
in  human  language.  It  probably  never  will  be  now. 
Sometime,  doubtless,  the  right  word  will  spring  into  use. 
In  the  meantime,  there  is  no  question  that  the  true  prog- 
ress of  human  welfare  must  rest  upon  the  increase  of 
unreserved  devotion  to  the  society  of  mankind. 

The  difficulty  of  improvement.  The  task  of  devising 
practical  expedients  to  reduce  altruistic  sentiments  to 
a  practical  working  basis  is  by  no  means  an  easy,  nor 
altogether  an  encouraging  one.  As  the  various  schemes 
and  plans  for  social  improvement  pass  in  review  it  be- 
comes clear  that  the  specific  reforms  are  largely  inade- 
quate, and  the  revolutionary  programs  are  impractical. 
The  conviction  increases  that  there  is  an  ocean  of  truth 
in  Professor  Sumner's  pithy  statement,  "If  this  poor 


328  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

old  world  is  as  bad  as  they  say,  one  more  reflection  may 
check  the  zeal  of  the  headlong  reformer.  It  is  at  any 
rate  a  tough  old  world.  It  has  taken  its  trend  and  cur- 
vature and  all  its  twists  and  tangles  from  a  long  course 
of  formation.  All  its  wry  and  crooked  gnarls  and 
knobs  are  therefore  stiff  and  stubborn.  If  we  puny  men 
by  our  arts  can  do  anything  at  all  to  straighten  them,  it 
will  only  be  by  modifying  the  tendencies  of  some  of  the 
forces  at  work,  so  that,  after  a  sufficient  time,  their 
action  may  be  changed  a  little,  and  slowly  the  lines  of 
movement  may  be  modified."135 

The  legitimacy  of  effort.  Does  it  follow,  then,  that  con- 
scious effort  for  the  improvement  of  social  conditions  is 
a  useless  and  unscientific  waste  of  energy  ?  Not  at  all.  It 
is  only  the  headlong  reformer  whose  zeal  must  be  checked. 
Human  civilization  progresses  on  the  principles  of  evo- 
lutionary development.  The  factors  which  determine 
the  course  of  this  development  are  many  and  diverse  — 
racial,  climatic,  biological,  psychological  —  but  among 
them,  and  of  profound  significance,  is  the  factor  of 
idealization,  and  the  rational  effort  to  achieve  the 
ideal.  Men  have  always  used  their  intellects  to  picture 
a  better  state  of  things,  to  devise  means  of  achieving 
this  better  state,  and  to  put  these  means  into  oper- 
ation. Men  will  always  continue  to  do  so.  And  this 
constant  and  unceasing  effort  for  social  amelioration 
will,  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  play  an  incalculable  part 
in  determining  social  forms  and  institutions.  The  one 
requirement  demanded  of  such  effort  is  that  it  shall  be 
scientific,  and  that  any  reform  measure  shall  be  framed 
upon  the  basis  of  logical  inductions  from  a  properly 
classified  and  adequate  mass  of  facts.  Of  the  two  chief 
types  of  betterment,  that  is  easier  and  more  promising 


CONCLUSION  329 

which  seeks  to  correct  the  obvious  abnormalities  in  the 
existing  social  situation.  Much  more  difficult,  much 
more  exacting  in  its  demands  upon  intelligence,  patience, 
and  will,  but  none  the  less  necessary  or  worth  while,  is 
that  type  of  reform  which  seeks  to  raise  the  normal  itself 
to  a  higher  level. 

The  question  whether  a  given  reform  may  be  better 
accomplished  by  official  or  private  agency  is  a  matter  of 
expediency,  not  of  principle.  In  any  given  case,  state 
interference  is  legitimate  exactly  so  far  as  it  is  efficacious, 
and  will  not  result  in  more  social  harm  than  good. 

Prevention.  Whatever  the  evil  attacked,  and  whatever 
the  agency  attacking  it,  the  principle  is  now  uniformly 
accepted  by  scientific  social  workers  that  prevention, 
to  the  extent  that  it  is  possible,  is  immeasurably 
preferable  to  relief,  and  decidedly  more  economical  than 
cure.  In  fact,  the  whole  spirit  of  applied  sociology  is 
the  spirit  of  prevention,  based  upon  the  only  scientific 
ground  —  a  knowledge  and  grasp  of  causes.  Applied 
sociology  is  frequently  confused  with  "charity"  or 
"practical  philanthropy."  In  point  of  fact,  if  applied 
sociology  could  do  its  perfect  work,  there  would  be  no 
practical  philanthropy  because  there  would  be  no  need 
of  it.  It  is  an  axiom  of  applied  sociology  that  the  only 
satisfactory  social  situation  is  where  every  family  or 
individual  stands  independently  upon  its  own  feet,  ac- 
cording to  the  normal  conventions  and  expectations  of 
its  own  group,  neither  needing  nor  wishing  assistance 
from  without,  either  private  or  public.  Applied  sociology 
seeks  to  get  at  the  root  of  all  forms  of  social  abnormality 
so  that  there  shall  be  no  more  "charity  cases,"  no  more 
"dependents,  defectives,  and  delinquents."  The  achieve- 
ment of  this  ideal  is  far  in  the  future,  is  perhaps 


330  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

impossible;  it  is  nevertheless  the  goal  for  which  ap- 
plied sociology  strives.  In  the  meantime,  applied 
sociology  subjects  current  or  proposed  methods  of 
relief,  palliation,  and  cure  to  scientific  scrutiny,  with 
the  purpose  of  determining  their  efficacy  to  meet  the 
immediate  demands  and  necessities  of  the  existing  so- 
cial order. 

Universal  principles.  One  of  the  most  fascinating 
fields  of  speculation  in  the  domain  of  applied  sociology 
is  the  question  whether  there  exist,  in  the  very  consti- 
tution and  nature  of  man,  any  eternal  and  universal 
principles  which  underlie  all  successful  social  organi- 
zation, and  must  be  taken  into  account  in  consciously 
shaping  social  growth.  It  seems  at  least  possible  that 
there  are.  We  know  that  all  men  are  sufficiently  alike 
physically  so  that  there  are  certain  fundamental  laws  of 
hygiene,  health,  and  life.  All  human  bodies  demand 
food,  rest,  and  sleep.  If  a  man  takes  a  certain  amount 
of  strychnine,  he  dies,  whether  he  be  Eskimo,  Caucasian, 
or  Bushman.  Is  it  not  possible  that  the  similarity  of 
requirements  may  extend  into  the  social  realm,  and  that 
there  are  certain  standards  of  social  organization  which 
are  essential  to  permanent  and  enduring  social  organi- 
zation? The  fact  that  it  would  be  extremely  difficult 
to  formulate  these  principles  in  concrete  terms  does  not 
deny  their  existence.  All  the  philosophizing,  striving, 
idealization,  and  experimentation  which  men  have 
done  with  reference  to  social  forms  may  perhaps  have 
resulted  in  bringing  advanced  societies  ever  nearer  to 
the  type  of  social  organization  demanded  by  the  innate 
constitution  of  the  human  species.  It  is  a  point  of  view 
which  lends  a  special  interest  to  the  practical  study  of 
social  phenomena. 


CONCLUSION  331 

The  power  of  the  individual.  Two  other  problems  of 
great  social  significance  and  interest  are  those  of  the 
efficacy  of  individual  effort  in  shaping  the  course  of 
social  evolution,  and  of  the  relative  influence  of  heredity 
and  environment.  The  former  of  these  questions  has 
already  been  touched  upon,  and  it  has  been  observed  that 
the  influence  of  no  single  individual  in  society  is  negli- 
gible, while  at  certain  times,  and  under  certain  condi- 
tions, individuals  of  exceptional  strength  may  exert  an 
incalculable  influence.  But  even  in  ordinary  times, 
and  with  ordinary  individuals,  persistent  and  well- 
considered  effort  is  bound  to  have  its  effect. 

Heredity  and  environment.  A  large  amount  of  effort 
has  been  expended  upon  arguments  concerning  the  rela- 
tive importance  of  the  two  great  forces  of  life,  heredity 
and  environment,  in  shaping  human  society.  This 
effort  has  been  largely  wasted,  because  each  of  these 
factors  is  infinitely  important,  neither  can  be  neglected, 
and  in  the  case  of  the  human  environment  they  become 
so  intertwined  as  to  be  practically  indistinguishable. 
The  human  environment  of  any  man  consists  of  other 
men,  women,  and  children,  each  with  his  own  heredity, 
and  each  affected  by  his  environment.  Applied  sociol- 
ogy can  safely  ignore  the  rivalry  which  seeks  to  estab- 
lish the  supremacy  of  one  or  the  other  of  these  fac- 
tors, and  confine  its  attention  to  aiding  any  promising 
plan  to  utilize  either  one  for  the  improvement  of  society. 

Permanence  and  progression.  Finally,  there  remains  to 
be  noted  the  inevitable  and  perennial  antagonism  be- 
tween the  two  fundamental  principles  of  social  welfare. 
These  principles  manifest  themselves  in  various  forms, 
and  are  called  by  divers  names.  Coleridge  distinguished 
them  as  permanence  and  progression.  In  politics  we  call 


332  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

them  conservatism  and  radicalism  ;  in  biology,  heredity 
and  variation.  They  are  recognized  as  fundamental  in 
the  distinctions  between  female  and  male.  One  of  the 
greatest  of  all  the  tasks  of  applied  sociology  —  perhaps 
the  basic  task  of  all  —  is  the  task  of  enabling  men  to  keep 
a  proper  balance  between  these  two  principles.  The 
study  of  applied  sociology  is  the  study  of  the  problem 
how  to  provide  for  advance  into  new  and  better  things 
without  sacrificing  the  stability  and  soundness  which 
inhere  in  the  tried  and  proved  forms,  institutions,  and 
mores  of  society. 


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22.  Cf.  Dyer,  Henry,  The  Evolution  of  Industry  (1895),  pp.  87-9 

23.  Bosanquet,  Helen  D.,  The  Standard  of  Life  (1898),  p.  8 

24.  Thirteenth  Census  of  the  United  States  (1910),  Vol.  IV,  pp. 

69-70 

333 


334  REFERENCES 

25.  Thirteenth  Census  U.  S.,  Vol.  IV,  p.  40 

26.  Nearing,  Scott,  Financing  the  Wage  Earner's  Family  (1913), 

p.  15,  and  Thirteenth  Census  U.  S.  (1910),  Vol.  VIII,  p.  31 

27.  Thirteenth  Census  U.  S.,  Vol.  XI,  p.  21 

28.  Nearing,  op.  cit.,  p.  13 

29.  Thirteenth  Census  U.  S.,  Vol.  V,  p.  169 

30.  Nearing,  op.  cit.,  pp.  113-4 

31.  Chapin,  Robert  C.,  The  Standard  of  Living  Among  Work- 

ingmen's  Families  in  New  York  City  (1909),  p.  63 

32.  Streightoff,  Frank  H.,  The  Standard  of  Living  among  the 

Industrial  People  of  America  (1911),  p.  58 

33.  Ibid.,  pp.  58-9  and  65 

34.  Ibid.,  p.  66 

35.  Nearing,  Scott,  Wages  in  the  United  States  (1911),  pp.  43-4 

36.  Ibid.,  p.  62 

37.  Ibid.,  pp.  77-8 

38.  Report  of  the  Immigration  Commission  (1911),  Vol.  I,  p.  367 

39.  The  Survey,  December  12,  1914,  p.  279 

40.  Nearing,  Scott,  Wages,  p.  51 

41.  Rep't  Immigration  Comm.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  408-11 

42.  Ibid.,  pp.  764-7 

43.  Thirteenth  Census  U.  S.,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  32 

44.  Thirteenth  Census  U.  S.,  Vol.  XI,  p.  17 

45.  Nearing,  Scott,  Wages,  pp.  190-1 

46.  Rep't  Immigration  Comm.,  Vol.  I,  p.  412 

47.  More,  Louise  B.,  Wage  Earners'  Budgets  (1907),  p.  27 

48.  Chapin,  op f  cit.,  p.  40 

49.  Streightoff,  op.  cit.,  p.  123 

50.  MacKaye,  James,  The  Happiness  of  Nations  (1915),  p.  109 

51.  Chapin,  op.  cit.,  p.  198 

52.  Streightoff,  op.  cit.,  p.  12 

53.  Ibid.,  pp.  12-13 

54.  Ibid.,  p.  20 

55.  Report  of  Special  Committee  on  Standard  of  Living  of  8th 

New  York  State  Conference  of  Charities  and  Corrections, 
pp.  17-20  , 

56.  Roberts,  Peter,  Anthracite  Coal  Communities  (1904),  p.  346 

57.  The  Survey,  February  4,  1911,  p.  767 

58.  Streightoff,  op.  cit.,  p.  162 


REFERENCES  335 

59.  Fairchild,  Henry  P.,  The  Standard  of  Living  —  Up  or  Down? 

American  Economic  Review,  March,  1916 

60.  Fairchild,  Henry  P.,  A  Sociological  View  of  the  High  Cost  of 

Living,  The  Forum,  July,  1914 

61.  Statistical  Abstract  of  United  States,  1911,  pp.  264-5 

62.  Ford,  James,  Cooperation  in  New  England  (1913),  pp.  6-10 

63.  Refsell,  Oscar  N.,  The  Farmers'  Elevator  Movement,  Journal 

of  Political  Economy,  November  and  December,  1914 

64.  Ford,  op.  cit.,  p.  12 

65.  Daily  Consular  and  Trade  Reports,  March  i,  1913 

66.  Hammond,  M.  B.,  Where  Life  is  More  than  Meat,  The  Survey, 

February  6,  1915 

67.  The  Survey,  February  6,  1915,  pp.  487  ff. 

68.  Brooks,  Robert  C.,  Corruption  in  American  Politics  and  Life 

(1910),  p.  46 

69.  Lindsey,  Ben  B.,  and  O'Higgins,  Harvey  J.,  The  Beast  (1911) 

70.  Hunter,  Robert,  Poverty  (1904),  p.  186 

71.  Wright,  Carroll  D.,  Outline  of  Practical  Sociology   (1899), 

P- 358 

72.  Hadley,  Arthur  T.,  Economics,  pp.  97-8 

73.  Sullivan,  W.  C.,  Alcoholism  (1906),  Ch.  VI 

74.  Hunter,  op.  cit.,  p.  u 

75.  Ellwood,  C.  A.,  Sociology  and  Modern  Social  Problems  (1910), 

P-  243 

76.  Rep't  Immigration  Comm.,  Vol.  34,  pp.  28,  44 

77.  Ellwood,  op.  cit.,  p.  254 

78.  Adams,  Brooks,  The  Law  of  Civilization  and  Decay  (1895), 

p.  202 

79.  Ibid.,  pp.  202-3 

80.  Devine,  Edward  T.,  The  Principles  of  Relief  (1910),  pp.  294-7 

81.  Rogers,  J.  E.  Thorold,  Six  Centuries  of  Work  and  Wages 

(1884),  p.  252 

82.  Keller,  Albert  G.,  Societal  Selection  (1915),    Chapter   VI, 

"  Counterselection  " 

83.  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor,  Bulletin  No.  100  (1912) 

84.  Farnam,  Henry  W.,  The  Economic  Utilization  of  History 

(1913),  pp.  179-80 

85.  Nearing,  Scott,  Social  Adjustment  (1911),  pp.  214-5 

86.  Ibid.,  p.  233 


336  REFERENCES 

87.  McClellan,  George  B.,  Syndicalism  and  the  General  Strike  in 

Italy,  Atlantic  Monthly,  September,  1914 

88.  Brooks,  John  Graham,  The  Real  Trouble  with  the  Industrial 

Workers  of  the  World,  Survey,  Oct.  25,  1913,  p.  87 

89.  Stangeland,  Charles  E.,  Pre-Malthusian  Doctrines  of  Popu- 

lation (1904) 

90.  Mulhall,  Michael  G.,  Dictionary  of  Statistics,  4th  Edition 

(1899),  p.  441 

91.  Mulhall,  op.  cit.,  p.  91,  and  Bailey,  William  B.,  Modern 

Social  Conditions  (1906),  p.  97 

92.  Mulhall,  op.  cit.,  p.  174,  and  Webb,  Augustus  D.,  The  New 

Dictionary  of  Statistics  (1911),  p.  183 

93.  Day,  Clive,  op.  cit.,  pp.  22,  45 

94.  U.   S.  Census  Bureau,  A  Century  of  Population  Growth 

(1909),  pp.  11-15,  78,  and  i3th  Census  U.  S.,  Abstract,  p.  55 

95.  Weber,  Adna  F.,  The  Growth  of  Cities  in  the  Nineteenth 

Century  (1899),  pp.  44-69 

96.  Zeublin,  Charles,  American  Municipal  Progress  (1916),  p.  i 

97.  The  Survey,  January  21,  1911,  p.  672 

98.  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  Vol.  XVII,  No.  2,  p.  166 

99.  Veiller,  Lawrence,  Housing  Reform  (1910),  p.  8 

100.  U.  S.  Census  Bureau,  Mortality  Statistics 

101.  Ibid.,  and  The  Pittsburgh  Survey,  The  Pittsburgh  District, 

Civic  Frontage  (1914),  pp.  63-86 

102.  U.  S.  Mortality  Statistics,  1913,  p.  9 

103.  U.  S.  Census  Bureau,  Marriage  and  Divorce,  1867-1906 

(1909),  Part  I,  p.  12 

104.  Ibid.,  p.  19 

105.  Ibid.,  p.  16 

106.  Ibid.,  p.  12 

107.  Wright,  C.  D.,  Outline  of  Practical  Sociology  (1899),  p.  164 

108.  Fairchild,  Henry  P.,  Lies,   Damned   Lies,    and   Statistics, 

Unpopular  Review,  April- June,  1915 

109.  Connecticut  Society  of  Social  Hygiene,  Leaflet  No.  i,  p.  5 

1 10.  Flexner,  Abraham,  The  Regulation  of  Prostitution  in  Europe, 

Social  Hygiene,  December,  1914 

in.   Chapter  456,  Acts  of  1911,  Massachusetts,  Sec.  i 
112.   Goldmark,  Josephine,  Fatigue  and  Efficiency  (1912),  p.  97, 

quoted  from  Webb,  The  Case  for  the  Factory  Acts,  p.  46 


REFERENCES  337 

113.  Hutchins,  B.  L.,  and  Harrison,  A.,  A  History  of  Factory 

Legislation  (1911),  pp.  44,  45,  21 

114.  New  York  Times,  Correspondence,  February  18,  1916 

115.  Martin,  John,  The  Four  Ages  of  Woman,  The  Survey,  Febru- 

ary 36,  March  4,  n,  18,  1916.     Replies,  The  Survey,  April 
15,  1916 

116.  Davenport,  Charles  B.,  Heredity  in  Relation  to  Eugenics, 

(1911) 

117.  Fielding-Hall,  H.,  Eugenics  and  Common  Sense,  Atlantic 

Monthly,  September,  1914 

118.  Morley,  Henry,  Ideal  Commonwealths  (1885),  p.  224 

119.  Keller,  Albert  G.,  The  Limits  of  Eugenics  (1910) 

1 20.  Jordan,  David  Starr,  The  Eugenics  Review,  II  :  3,  p.  247 

(1910) 

121.  Giddings,  Elements  of  Sociology  (1910),  p.  89 

122.  Ross,  Edward  A.,  Social  Control  (1908),  p.  149 

123.  Ibid.,  p.  148 

Ellwood,  Charles  A.,  The  Social  Problem  (1915),  Chapters 
I,V,VI 

124.  Israels,  Belle  L.,  The  Survey,  July  3,  1909,  p.  495 

125.  Mangold,  George  B.,  Problems  of  Child  Welfare  (1914),  pp. 

174-6 

126.  New  York  Times,  February  26,  1912 

127.  Ibid.,  December  25,  1913 

128.  The  Survey,  April  8,  1916 

129.  Lincoln,  Jonathan  T.,  The  City  of  the  Dinner  Pail  (1909), 

pp.  178,  182 

130.  Ruskin,  John,  Unto  This  Last,  p.  226,  quoted  by  Hunter, 

Robert,  Poverty  (1904),  p.  86 

131.  U.  S.  Census  Bureau,  Insane  and  Feeble-Minded  in  Insti- 

tutions, 1910,  p.  25 

132.  Kidd,  Benjamin,  Social  Evolution  (1894) 

133.  Semple,  Ellen  C.,  Influences  of  Geographic  Environment 

(1911),  p.  27 

134.  Rihbany,   Abraham  Mitrie,   The   Syrian    Christ,   Atlantic 

Monthly,  March,  1916,  and  other  articles  in  the  series 

135.  Sumner,  William  G.,  War  and  Other  Essays  (1911),  PP-  208-9 


SUPPLEMENTARY  READINGS 
CHAPTER  I 

GIDDINGS,  FRANKLIN  H.,  The  Elements  of  Sociology  (1910). 
SPENCER,  HERBERT,  The  Study  of  Sociology  (1875). 
WARD,  LESTER  F.,  Pure  Sociology  (1907). 
WARD,  LESTER  F.,  Applied  Sociology  (1906). 

CHAPTER  II 

DEVINE,  EDWARD  T.,  The  Normal  Life  (1915). 
SUMNER,  WILLIAM  G.,  Folkways  (1907). 

CHAPTER  III 

DEVON,  JAMES,  The  Criminal  and  the  Community  (1912). 

HENDERSON,  CHARLES  R.,  An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the 
Dependent,  Defective  and  Delinquent  Classes  (1893). 

HYDE,  WILLIAM  DE  W.,  Sin  and  Its  Forgiveness  (1009). 

McCoNNELL,  RAY  M.,  Criminal  Responsibility  and  Social  Con- 
straint (1912). 

PARMELEE,  MAURICE,  The  Principles  of  Anthropology  and 
Sociology  in  their  Relation  to  Criminal  Procedure  (1908). 

CHAPTER  IV 

COOKE-TAYLOR,   R.  WHATELY,   The  Modern  Factory  System 

(1891). 

GASKELL,  P.,  The  Manufacturing  Population  of  England  (1833). 
HOBSON,  JOHN  A.,  The  Evolution  of  Modern  Capitalism  (1906). 
HOLT,  HAMILTON,  Commercialism  and  Journalism  (1909). 

CHAPTER  V 

DAY,  CLIVE,  A  History  of  Commerce  (1907). 
DYER,  HENRY,  The  Evolution  of  Industry  (1895). 
LINCOLN,  JONATHAN  T.,  The  City  of  the  Dinner  Pail  (1909). 
STELZLE,  CHARLES,  The  Working  Man  and  Social  Problems  (1903). 

339 


340  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY 

CHAPTER  VI 

ANONYMOUS,  Six  Hundred  Dollars  a  Year  (1867).     (Published  by 

Ticknor  and  Fields,  Boston.) 
CHAPIN,  ROBERT  C.,  The  Standard  of  Living  among  Workingmen's 

Families  in  New  York  City  (1909). 
CLARK,  MRS.  SUE  AINSLIE,  and  WYATT,  EDITH,  Making  Both 

Ends  Meet  (1911). 
ENGELS,  FREDERICK,  The  Condition  of  the  Working-Class  in 

England  in  1844  (1892). 

KENNGOTT,  GEORGE  F.,  The  Record  of  a  City  (1912). 
MORE,  LOUISE  B.,  Wage-Earners'  Budgets  (1907). 
NEARING,  SCOTT,  Financing  the  Wage-Earner's  Family  (1913). 
NEARING,  SCOTT,  Wages  in  the  United  States  (1911). 
ROGERS,  J.  E.  THOROLD,  Six  Centuries  of  Work  and  Wages  (1884). 
ROWNTREE,  B.  SEEBOHM,  How  the  Laborer  Lives  (1913). 
STREIGHTOFF,  FRANK  H.,  The  Standard  of  Living  among  the 

Industrial  People  of  America  (1911). 

CHAPTER  VII 

ADAMS,  THOMAS,  and  SUMNER,  HELEN  L.,  Labor  Problems  (1905). 

FAY,  C.  R.,  Copartnership  in  Industry  (1913). 

ELIOT,  CHARLES  W.,  The  Future  of  Trades-Unionism  and  Capital- 
ism in  a  Democracy  (1910). 

FORD,  JAMES,  Cooperation  in  New  England  (1913). 

GANTT,  HENRY  L.,  Work,  Wages,  and  Profits  (1911). 

HOWELL,  GEORGE,  The  Conflicts  of  Capital  and  Labour  (1890). 

HOWELL,  GEORGE,  Labour  Legislation,  Labour  Movements  and 
Labour  Leaders  (1902). 

RAE,  JOHN,  Eight  Hours  for  Work  (1894). 

RYAN,  JOHN  A.,  A  Living  Wage  (1906). 

WEBB,  SIDNEY  and  BEATRICE,  Industrial  Democracy  (1902). 

CHAPTER  VIII 

ABBOTT,  EDITH,  Women  in  Industry  (1910). 

BROOKS,  ROBERT  C.,  Corruption  in  American  Politics  and  Life 

(1910). 

BUTLER,  ELIZABETH  B.,  Women  and  the  Trades  (1909). 
HOLLANDER,  JACOB  H.,  The  Abolition  of  Poverty  (1914). 
HUNTER,  ROBERT,  Poverty  (1904). 


SUPPLEMENTARY   READINGS  341 

LINDSEY,  BEN  B.,  and  O'HIGGINS,  HARVEY  J.,  The  Beast  (1911). 
PARMELEE,  MAURICE,  Poverty  and  Social  Progress  (1916). 
Ross,  EDWARD  A.,  Sin  and  Society  (1007). 
ROWNTREE,  B.  SEEBOHM,  Betting  and  Gambling  (1905). 

CHAPTER  IX 
ASCHROTT,  PAUL  F.,  The  English  Poor  Law  System,  Past  and 

Present  (1888). 

DEVINE,  EDWARD  T.,  Misery  and  Its  Causes  (1009). 
DEVINE,  EDWARD  T.,  The  Principles  of  Relief  (1910). 
HENDERSON,  CHARLES  R.,  Modern  Methods  of  Charity  (1904). 
HENDERSON,  CHARLES  R.,  Social  Settlements  (1899). 
LOCH,  C.  S.,  Charity  Organization  (1890). 

CHAPTER  X 

BROOKS,  JOHN  G.,  American  Syndicalism  (1912). 
CLAY,  Sni  ARTHUR,  Syndicalism  and  Labour  (1911). 
EASTMAN,  CRYSTAL,  Work-Accidents  and  the  Law  (1910). 
GOLDMARK,  JOSEPHINE  C.,  Fatigue  and  Efficiency  (1912). 
HILLQUIT,  MORRIS,  Socialism  hi  Theory  and  Practice  (1910). 
HOBSON,  JOHN  A.,  The  Problem  of  the  Unemployed  (1896). 
HUTCHTNS,  B.  L.,  and  HARRISON,  A.,  A  History  of  Factory  Legis- 
lation (1911). 

MACDONALD,  J.  RAMSAY,  Syndicalism  (1912). 
ORTH,  SAMUEL  P.,  Socialism  and  Democracy  in  Europe  (1913). 
RUBINOW,  ISAAC  M.,  Social  Insurance  (1913). 

CHAPTER  XI 

BONAR,  J.,  Malthus  and  His  Work  (1885). 

MALTHUS,  THOMAS  R.,  An  Essay  on  the  Principle  of  Population 
(1803). 

NITTI,  FRANCESCO  S.,  Population  and  the  Social  System  (1894). 

STANGELAND,  CHARLES  E.,  Pre-Malthusian  Doctrines  of  Popula- 
tion (1904). 

USSHER,  RICHARD,  Neo-Malthusianism  (1898). 

CHAPTER  XH 

COMMANDER,  LYDIA  K.,  The  American  Idea  (1907). 

COOLTDGE,  MARY  R.,  Why  Women  Are  So  (1912). 

DEALEY,  JAMES  Q.,  The  Family  in  Its  Sociological  Aspects  (1912). 


342  APPLIED   SOCIOLOGY 

GOODSELL,  WILLYSTINE,  A  History  of  the  Family  as  a  Social  and 

Educational  Institution  (1915). 
KEY,  ELLEN,  Love  and  Marriage  (1912). 

CHAPTER  XIII 

DEFOREST,  ROBERT  W.,  and  VEILLER,  LAWRENCE,  The  Tenement 
House  Problem  (1903). 

FAIRCHILD,  HENRY  P.,  Immigration  (1913). 

GILLETTE,  JOHN  M.,  Constructive  Rural  Sociology  (1913). 

HOWE,  FREDERIC,  The  Modern  City  and  Its  Problems  (1915). 

JENKS,  JEREMIAH  W.,  and  LAUCK,  W.  JETT,  The  Immigration 
Problem  (1913). 

Rns,  JACOB,  How  the  Other  Half  Lives  (1890). 

Ross,  EDWARD  A.,  The  Old  World  in  the  New  (1914). 

STONE,  ALFRED  H.,  Studies  in  the  American  Race  Problem  (1908). 

VEILLER,  LAWRENCE,  Housing  Reform  (1910). 

WEBER,  ADNA  F.,  The  Growth  of  Cities  in  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury (1899). 

ZEUBLIN,  CHARLES,  American  Municipal  Progress  (1916). 

CHAPTER  XIV 

ADLER,  FELIX,  Marriage  and  Divorce  (1915). 

FISHER,  IRVING,  Bulletin  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  on 

National  Health  (1909). 
LICHTENBERGER,  JAMES  P.,  Divorce,  A  Study  in  Social  Causation 

(1909). 
OSMAN,  WILLIAM  B.,  Divorce  and  Remarriage;   The  Other  Side 

(1905)- 

CHAPTER  XV 

CHICAGO  VICE  COMMISSION,  The  Social  Evil  in  Chicago  (1911). 
COCKS,  ORRIN  G.,  The  Social  Evil  and  Methods  of  Treatment 

(1912). 

JANNEY,  O.  EDWARD,  The  White  Slave  Traffic  in  America  (1911). 
KNEELAND,   GEORGE  J.,   Commercialized  Prostitution  in  New 

York  City  (1913). 

MORROW,  PRINCE  A.,  Social  Diseases  and  Marriage  (1904). 
NEW  YORK  COMMITTEE  OF  FOURTEEN,  The  Social  Evil  in  New 

York  City  (1910). 

SELIGMAN,  EDWIN  R.  A.,  The  Social  Evil  (1912). 
WARDLAW,  RALPH,  Lectures  on  Magdalenism  (1843). 


SUPPLEMENTARY   READINGS  343 

CHAPTER  XVI 

DUNLOP,  O.  JOCELYN,  and  DENMAN,  R.  D.,  English  Apprentice- 
ship and  Child  Labour  (1912). 

FOLKS,  HOMER,  The  Care  of  Destitute,  Neglected  and  Delinquent 
Children  (1900). 

KEELING,  FREDERIC,  Child  Labour  in  the  United  Kingdom  (1914). 

MANGOLD,  GEORGE  B.,  Problems  of  Child  Welfare  (1914). 

SPARGO,  JOHN,  The  Bitter  Cry  of  the  Children  (1906). 

VANVORST,  BESSIE,  The  Cry  of  the  Children  (1908). 

CHAPTER  XVII 
DAVENPORT,   CHARLES  B.,   Heredity  in  Relation  to  Eugenics 

(1911). 

ELLIS,  HAVELOCK,  The  Task  of  Social  Hygiene  (1912). 
GEORGE,  W.  L.,  Woman  and  Tomorrow '(1913). 
KEY,  ELLEN,  The  Morality  of  Woman  (1911). 
PEARSON,  KARL,  Nature  and  Nurture  (1910). 
SALEEBY,  C.  W.,  Parenthood  and  Race  Culture  (1909). 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

DEALEY,  JAMES  Q.,  The  Development  of  the  State  (1909). 
KOREN,  JOHN,  Alcohol  and  Society  (1916). 
LEE,  JOSEPH,  Play  in  Education  (1915). 
Ross,  EDWARD  A.,  Social  Control  (1908). 
SULLIVAN,  W.  C.,  Alcoholism  (1906). 

CHAPTER  XIX 

KIDD,  BENJAMIN,  Social  Evolution  (1894). 

RAUSCHENBUSCH,  WALTER,  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis  (1910) . 

SMITH,  SAMUEL  G.,  Religion  in  the  Making  (1910). 

TAYLOR,  GRAHAM,  Religion  in  Social  Action  (1913)- 

CHAPTER  XX 

ADAMS,  BROOKS,  The  Law  of  Civilization  and  Decay  (1895). 
ANGELL,  NORMAN,  The  Great  Illusion  (1913). 
COFFIN,  JOSEPH  H.,  The  Socialized  Conscience  (1913)- 
ELLWOOD,  CHARLES  A.,  The  Social  Problem  (1915)- 
KELLER,  ALBERT  G.,  Societal  Evolution  (1915)- 
MACKAYE,  JAMES,  The  Happiness  of  Nations  (1915)- 
SUMNER,  WILLIAM  G.,  War  and  Other  Essays  (1911). 


INDEX 


Abnormal  aspects,  16,  ig. 

defined,  20. 
Abnormality,  18,  23,  45. 

economic,  138. 

intellectual,  316-317. 

religious,  319. 

two  types  of,  22. 
Abnormal  life,  20. 
Accidents,  industrial,  181,  185,  246. 
Activities,  social,  13. 

classified,  12-13. 
Agencies,  social,  36,  42,  271-272,  329. 

official,  36,  37,  174-175. 

unofficial,  36,  174-175. 
Agency,  15. 

Agriculture,  diminished  importance  of, 
47,  77-80. 

investments  in,  78. 
Alcohol,  157-158,  257,  304,  305-311. 
Alcoholism,  158. 
Almshouses,  162,  173. 
Altruism,  119,  133,  150,  272,  318. 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  122. 
Anatomy,  social,  19,  44. 
Antagonism   between  population  and 
standard     of     living,      210-213, 
219. 

Anthropology,  3. 
Applied  sociology,  26,  325,  329,  332. 

defined,  5. 
Apprentices,  53. 
Assimilation,  232. 
Australasia,  eight-hour  day  in,   183- 

184. 
Australia,  hours  of  work  in,  101. 

minimum  wage  in,  137. 
Average,  the,  16,  17. 

disadvantages  of,  84,  95,  109. 

B 

Baseball,  302. 
"Beast,  The,"  146. 
Beggars,  169,  178. 
Benevolence,  132. 


Bennett,  Arnold,  quoted,  17. 

Birth  rate,  172,  205,  213-216. 

Black  Death,  169. 

Boarders,  94,  100,  242. 

Bride-purchase,  18. 

Brooklyn,  poor  relief  in,  175-176. 

"Bubble  period,"  75. 

Budgets,  103,  105. 

Buffalo,  Charity  Organization  Society 

of,  177. 
quoted,  109. 

Bulgaria,  standard  of  living  in,  86. 
Business,  21,  145-147,  239,  310. 
Business  man,  the,  79,  143,  146. 


Cabot,  Richard  C.,  quoted,  16,  262. 
Capital,  51,  52,  115,  125-126. 

altered  importance  of,  53-55. 

power  of,  60,  62-64. 

unsocial  use  of,  149-152,  240-241. 
Campanella,  Tomaso,  quoted,  292. 
Capitalism,  47,  51-60,  77,  190-191. 

benefits  of,  72-73. 

Capitalists,  60,  62-64,  ri6,  195,  212. 
Centralization  of  production,  57,  67, 

69. 
Chapin,  Robert  C.,  108. 

quoted,  94,  99,  102. 
Charity,  177,  329. 
Charity  Organization,  176-178. 
Chicago,  crime  in,  154. 

juvenile  court  in,  269. 

social  centers  in,  305. 
Child,  the,  14,  265-272. 

importance  of,  265. 

protection  of,  265-268. 
Child  labor,  101. 
Choice,  power  of,  23,  24. 
Christ,  320-324. 
Christianity,  28,  317,  320-324. 
Church,  the,  37. 

the  Christian,    168-169.     (See  also 
Christianity.) 

institutional,  323. 


345 


346 


INDEX 


Cities,  growth  of.     (See  Urbanization.) 
City,  denned,  235.    (See  also  Urbaniza- 
tion.) 
Classes,  social,  48,  79,  88,  116,  119. 

standard  of  living  of,  85,  87-89,  212. 
Classification,  basis  of,  9,  25. 

of  abnormality,  22,  25. 

of  crime,  154. 

of  immorality,  26. 

of  improvement,  35-36. 

of  incompetence,  33-35. 

of  social  phenomena,  12-13,  IS- 

of  sociological  data,  9-10. 
Clergymen,  22. 

Clothing,  of  standard  family,  106. 
Coal,  55. 

Coleridge,  Samuel  T.,  331. 
Collective  bargaining,  121. 
Colonies,  211. 
Colonization,  2.29-231. 
Colorado,  280. 

Combination,  64,  67,  68,  121,  123. 
Combination  laws,  122. 
Comforts,  80,  92,  116. 
Commerce,  foreign,  76. 
Commercial  Revolution,   73-77,    139, 

235- 

Competition,  50-51,  53,  134,  136,  137, 
150,  151,  184,  186,  191,  226,  239, 

241,  305- 

Competition  of  life,  45,  46,  85. 
Complexity,  47,  80-81,  179,  325. 
Confidence  men,  21. 
Conformity,  20,  26. 
Congestion,  100,  242. 
Conservatism,  319,  332. 
Conspiracy  of  silence,  256. 
Consumers'  cooperation,  126. 
Consumption,  185. 
Contract,  prevalence  of,  47-51. 
Control,    social,    156,    220-221,    257, 

266-268,  295-300,  312. 
justification  of,  151,  186,  237-243, 

246,  261,  305,  306-314,  325-326. 
Convention,  20,  227,  298-209. 
Cooke-Taylor,  R.  Whately,  50. 
Cooperation,  20,  46, 124,  125-130,  176. 
Corporation,  the,  68-70. 
Corruption,  defined,  144-145. 
Cost,  in. 
Costs,  112-114. 

general  and  particular,  113-114. 
influence  of  minimum  wage  on,  135. 


Cost  level,  113. 

Cost  of  living,  in,  112. 

Cretins,  294,  316. 

Crime,  26,  33,  37,  268-269. 

defined,  28-31. 

economic,  152-155. 

"natural,"  29. 

sexual,  252-253. 

Criminal,  29,  30-31,  37,  152,  269. 
Criminality,  153. 
Criminology,  30. 
Crises,  162,  165,  181,  186-189. 
Culture  wants,  102-103,  107. 


Dairies,  cooperative,  127,  129. 

Dance  halls,  303,  304-305. 

Dancing,  304-305. 

Dangerous  trades,  185. 

Death,  14,  244-246. 

Death  rate,  205,  213-216,  244-246. 

Defectives,  25. 

Delinquency,  juvenile,  268-269. 

Delinquents,  25. 

Democracy,  280,  316,  321-324. 

Denmark,  cooperation  in,  tJgr— 

hours  of  work  in,  101 . 
Denver,  juvenile  court  in,  269-271. 
Dependence,  161. 
Dependents,  25. 

Depressions,  industrial,  166,  181,  187. 
Desires,  32,  253,  255,  297,  305. 
Destitution,  159-180. 

amount  of,  160-161. 

cause  of,  163-167. 

defined,  142. 

remedies  for,  167-180. 
Deterioration,  181-184. 
Deterrence,  37,  38,  261. 
Discovery  of  America,  2o6j  210. 
Disease,  14,  244-246. 

industrial,  181,  184-185. 

social,  245-246. 

venereal,  246,  260-261. 
Distributive  cooperation,  126-129. 
Division  of  labor,  66. 

geographical,  73. 
Divorce,  246-249. 
Drugs,  habit-forming,  305-312. 
Dusty  trades,  184-185. 
Duty,  social,  300. 


INDEX 


347 


Economic  determinism,  46. 
Economic  distribution  of  population, 

00-92. 

Economic  independence,  285-287. 
Economic  life,  defined,  13-14. 

characteristics  of,  44-64. 

general,  44-46. 

modern,  46-64. 
Education,  149,  158,  268,  315-316. 

sexual,  256-257,  261-262. 
Efficiency,  131,  136,  141,  158,  181,  182, 

225. 
Effort,  efficacy  of,  331. 

legitimacy  of,  328. 
Elberfeld  system,  173. 
Emigration.     (See  Immigration.) 
Engel,  Ernst,  102,  103. 
Engel's  laws,  104. 
England,  capital  crimes  in,  39. 

cooperation  in,  127. 

growth  of  cities  in,  236. 

industrial  drinking  in,  157. 

medieval    economic    conditions    in, 
47-48,  52-55. 

minimum  wage  in,  137. 

poor  relief  in,  160-173. 

standard  of  living  in,  115. 

towns  in,  234. 

trade  unions  in,  121-122. 
Environment,  31,  288,  331. 

physical,  2. 

human,  2,  3,  26,  33,  34,  60,  79,  81, 

289,  325- 
Esthetic  life,  295-314. 

defined,  14. 
Eugenics,  233,  288-294.    . 

negative,  292. 

positive,  292. 

practical,  291-293. 

scientific  character  of,  293-294. 

theoretical,  290-291. 

two  branches  of,  289-290. 
Evolution,  social,   180,   193,   284-285, 

288,  328. 
Evolution,  theory  of,  andjassistance,  180. 

and  competition,  50. 
Exhaustion. '  See  Fatigue. 
Expectation,  20-21,  48. 
Experimentation,  290. 
Experts,  8,  179. 
Expiation,  37,  38. 


Factors  of  social  progress,  209-210. 
Factory,  defined,  57. 
Factory  system,  51,  57-58. 
Facts,  324,  328. 

accumulation  of,  7-9. 
Fair,  the,  75. 

Family,  the,  14,  37,  83,  139,  142,  220- 
227,  240,  285-287. 

changes  in  function  of,  223-225. 

characteristic  features  of,  221-223. 

origin  of,  220-221. 
Farmers'  elevators,  128-129. 
Fashion,  297-298. 
Fatigue,  181-184. 
Fear  of  ghosts,  1 2,  14. 
Feeble-mindedness,  291-294,  316. 
Feelings,  12. 
Feminism,  225,  273-288. 

visionary  character  of,  287. 

weakness  of,  275-277,  286-287. 
Fine,  41,  42. 
Fisher,  Irving,  113. 
Food,  202-205. 

cost  of,  105. 

of  standard  family,  106. 
Forces,  natural,  6,  15. 

social,  6,  12,  13. 
Ford  profit-sharing  plan,  131. 
"Forgotten  man,"  the,  147. 
France,  divorce  in,  261. 

growth  of  cities  in,  236. 

population  in,  200. 

syndicalism  in,  194-197. 
Free  will,  23,  25. 
Fuel,  of  standard  family,  106. 


Gainful  workers,  00-91. 
Galton,  Sir  Francis,  292,  293. 
Gambling,  155-157. 
Generalization,  n. 
Germany,  cooperation  in,  129. 

Engel's  laws  in,  104. 

poor  relief  in,  173. 

Giddings,  Franklin  H.,  quoted,  20,  298. 
Gilds,  craft,  121. 
Gild  system,  52-53,  59,  68,  70. 
Giving,  168-169. 

indiscriminate,  180. 
Gluttony,  155. 


INDEX 


Gonorrhoea,  260-261. 
Graft,  144-149. 

Great  Britain,  hours  of  work  in,  101. 
Great  men,  300. 
Growth  of  population,  198-219. 
defined,  14. 


H 


Handicraft  system.     (See  gild  system.) 

Happiness,  6. 

Health,  181. 

Hebrews,  poor  relief  among  the,  168. 

Henry  VHI,  39. 

Heredity,  31,  288-289,  331-332. 

High  cost  of  living,  in. 

Hobson,  John  A.,  quoted,  115. 

Home,  the  modem,  223-224. 

Homicide,  246. 

Hours  of  work,  101,  182-184,  267. 

Hourwich,  Isaac  A.,  quoted,  93. 

Housing,  238-243. 

of  standard  family,  ro6. 
Humanitarianism,  122,  183,  186. 
Hunger,  12,  14,  44. 
Hunter,  Robert,  quoted,  150,  160. 


Ideal,  16,  17,  109,  118,  316,  328,  329. 

Idealization,  no,  118,  328-329. 

Ignorance,  316. 

Immigrants,  34,  317. 

Immigration,  212,  217-219,  230-234. 

Immigration  Commission,  quoted,  96, 

97-98,  99,  154,  163-164. 
Immorality,  22,  24. 

denned,  22. 

sexual,  164,  250-264. 

three  types  of,  26. 
Impersonality,  47,  77,  80-81,  143,  174- 

I7S,  178-179,  237,  257,  301. 
Imprisonment,  41,  42. 
Improvement,  16,  118,  244-246. 

difficulty  of,  327-328. 

revolutionary,    36,     120,     189-197, 
273-294. 

specific,  35,  120. 

two  types  of,  35. 
Incapacity,  defined,  33. 
Income,  92,  93-100. 

family,  99-100. 

sources  of,  94. 


Incompetence,  22,  24. 

defined,  23. 

economic,  forms  of,  159. 

treatment  of,  42. 

two  types  of,  33. 
Inconsistent  mores,  225-228. 
Indented  servants,  62. 
Independence,  economic,  285-287. 
Individual,  influence  of  the,  299-300, 

331- 
Individualism,  190-191. 

distinguished  from  capitalism,  58- 

59- 

Individualization,  177,  178,  269. 
Induction,  7,  10-11. 
Industrial  drinking,  157-8. 
Industrial  injuries,  181-186. 
Industrial  Revolution,  55,  57,  73,  88, 

101,  139,  172,  206,  235. 
Industrial  Workers  of  the  World,  195. 
Inefficiency,  164,  166,  182. 
Influence,  individual,  299-300. 
Injuries,  industrial,  181-186. 
Insanity,  316-317. 
Instinct,  for  reproduction,  204,  205. 
Insurance,  107. 
Intellectual  and  spiritual  life,  295,  314- 

324- 

defined,  14. 
Interest,  323. 

Interest  in  production,  increased  by 
profit  sharing,  130. 

laborer's  lack  of,  65. 

need  of,  67. 
Intuition,  26. 
Investigation,  7,  8,  177. 
Iron,  55. 
Italy,  Cretins  in,  294. 

general  strike  in,  196. 


John,  Saint,  quoted,  28. 
Journeymen,  53. 

Justice,  38,  41,  49,  62,  63,  n8,  192. 
Juvenile  court,  269,  271. 
Juvenile  delinquency,  268-269. 


Kansas,  wages  in,  96. 
Kidd,  Benjamin,  318. 


INDEX 


349 


Labor,  51,  52,  115,  igs. 

altered  position  of,  53-55. 

child,  266-268. 

inferiority  of,  50-60. 

sale  of,  61-62. 
Laissez-faire  doctrine,   133,   135,    151, 

241,  267,  306-307,  326. 
Land,  51,  52,  115,  191,  209-210. 

affecting  population,  207. 

affecting  standard  of  living,  85. 

city,  230-240. 

Large-scale  production,  58,  69-70. 
Lassalle,  Ferdinand,  285. 
Law,  religious,  27,  28. 

state,  29. 

"  the  higher,"  30. 
Laws,  divorce,  248-249. 

housing,  241-243. 

juvenile  delinquency,  269. 

liquor,  308-311. 

natural,  7,  15. 

neglect,  266. 

of  heredity,  289-291. 
Liberty,  40-50,  135,  237,  266,  308. 
Lincoln,    Jonathan    T.,    quoted,    71, 

312. 

Lindsey,  Ben.  B.,  146,  147. 
Lockouts,  124. 
Lodgers,  94,  100. 
Lombroso,  Cesare,  31. 
London,     charity     organization     in, 

177. 

Love,  12,  248. 
Luxuries,  80,  92,  102. 

cost  of,  113-117,  192. 
Luxury,  312-314. 

M 

Machine,  the,  54. 

influence  of,  55-57,  66,  80,  88. 
MacKaye,  James,  quoted,  102. 
Maine,  prohibition  in,  310. 
Maladjustment,  42. 

between    economic    and    marriage- 
family  mores,  225-228,  286-287. 

denned,  34-35. 

economic,  140-152,  185-186. 

recreational,  303-305. 

religious,  319-324. 

three  types  of,  181. 


Malthus,  Thomas  R.,  172,  200-202. 
Malthusian  doctrine,  200-207,  217. 

modification  in,  207-208. 
Manufacturing.     (See  also  Capitalism, 
Factory  system,  etc.) 

investments  in,  78. 

medieval,  53. 
Market,  the,  75. 

world,  77. 
Marriage,  14,  139,  220-227. 

characteristic  features  of,  221-223. 

origin  of,  220-221. 
Martineau,  Harriet,  quoted,  267. 
Marx,  Karl,  46,  183. 
Massachusetts,  280. 

crime  in,  154. 

juvenile  court  in,  269. 

neglect  law  of,  266. 

wages  in,  96,  97. 
Massachusetts    Bureau    of   Statistics, 

quoted,  109. 
Masters,  53,  54,  65. 
Mental  reactions,  13. 

secondary  character  of,  295-296. 
Middle  Ages,  economic  mores  of,  47- 
48,  52-55,  65. 

family  in,  223. 

poor  relief  in,  168-169. 

power  in,  145. 

towns  in,  234. 

transportation  in,  74. 
Migrations,  14,  229-243. 

importance  of,  229. 

types  of,  229. 
Minimum  wage,  I33~i37. 

objections  to,  and  answers,  135-137. 

theory  of,  134. 
Money,  in,  146. 

as  a  form  of  relief,  172-173. 

as  a  measure  of  standard  of  living 

92-93,  100,  101. 
Monogamy,  220,  221-223. 
Monopoly,  68,  135. 
Moral  code,  26-27. 
Morality,  299. 

More,  Louise  B.,  quoted,  99. 
Mores,  20,  139,  168,  221-222,  225-228, 
232,  251-252,  256,  274,  284,  290, 
292-293,  298,  290-300,  308,  319- 
324,  332. 
Movements  of   population,     216-218. 

(See  also  Migrations.) 
"Movies,"  302,  324. 


35° 


INDEX 


N 


National  Manufacturers'  Association, 

123. 

Natural  liberty,  49-50,  135. 
Necessaries,  92,  102-103. 

cost  of,  113-117,  192. 
Neo-Malthusianism,  208-209,  215. 
New  Jersey,  wages  in,  96. 
New  York,  wages  in,  96. 
New  York  City,  congestion  in,  242. 

crime  in,  154. 

dwellings  in,  239,  243. 

Engel's  laws  in,  104-105. 

family  income  in,  09. 

standard  of  living  in,  108-109. 

tuberculosis  in,  245. 

wages  in,  96. 

New  York  State  Conference  of  Char- 
ities    and     Corrections,     special 
committee  of,  quoted,  108. 
New  York  State  Factory  Investigat- 
ing Commission,  quoted,  96. 
Non-support,  222. 
Normal,  118,  244-245,  329. 

denned,  16-17. 
Normal  aspects,  16,  19,  20. 

defined,  17-18. 
Normal  life,  20. 


Occupations,  78,  91. 

of  women,  138-139. 
O'Higgins,  Harvey  J.,  146. 
Omar  Khayyam,  quoted,  36. 
Opium,  305,  311. 
Organization,  51,  115. 
Outgo,  92,  101-106. 

apportionment  of,  103-106. 

two  divisions  of,  102-103. 
Over-fatigue.  See  Fatigue. 
Overpopulation,  211-213. 

denned,  211. 
Owen,  Robert,  183. 
Ownership  of  product,  65,  71. 


Pain,  32,  102. 
Pair-marriage,  223. 
Pathology,  social,  19,  118. 
Patronage,  146. 
Paul,  Saint,  quoted,  28. 


Pauperism,  161-163, 169. *73> 174.  189. 

defined,  161. 
Paupers,  173,  176. 

number  of,  162. 
Penology,  30,  37,  268-269. 
Permanence,  331-332. 
"Phossy  jaw,"  184-185. 
Pittsburgh,  typhoid  fever  in,  245. 
Play,  271-272. 
Pleasure,  14,  32,  102,  109,  155. 

in  work,  67,  101. 
Poisons,  fatigue,  181-182. 

industrial,  184. 
Politics,  145,  175,  283. 
Poor  laws,  168-174. 
Poor  rates,  172. 

Population,  a  factor  in  progress,  209- 
210. 

affecting  standard  of  living,  85,  219. 

antagonism  between,  and  standard  of 
living,  210-213. 

growth  of,  14,  198-219. 

movements  of,  216-218. 
Population  policies,  198-200,  218-219. 
Poverty,  139-142,  314. 

defined,  142. 

two  meanings  of,  140. 
Power,  145. 

economic,  85,  88,  119,  120,  130,  192, 
241. 

human,  53,  56. 

mechanical,  53,  55,  56,  57. 

political,  145,  148. 

of  capital,  60,  62-64. 

of  labor,  196. 

of  social  classes,  85. 

of  the  individual,  331. 
Practical  philanthropy,  329-330. 
Practical     Sociology.       See     Applied 

Sociology. 

Prevention,  176-180,  329-330. 
Price,  in. 

Prices,  48,  53,  73,  112-113. 
Price  level,  93,  113,  114. 

influence    of    minimum    wage    on. 

135- 

Primitive  man,  14. 
Principles,  general,  325. 

social,  27. 

universal,  330. 
Probation,  42,  269-271. 
Problems,  social,  81,  87,  243,  296. 

influenced  by  immigration,  231-232. 


INDEX 


351 


Production,  control  of,  115-117. 

interest  in,  65,  67,  130. 
Productive  cooperation,  126,  127,  128. 
Profits,  126,  127,  135,  182-183. 
Profit  sharing,  130-131. 
Progress,  social,  17,  19,  125,  209-210, 

219,  272,  313. 
Progression,  331-332. 
Prohibition,  308-311. 
Prostitution,  157,  253-264. 

causes  of,  255-260. 

effect  of,  260-261. 

extent  of,  254. 

treatment  of,  261-264. 
Public  opinion,  200,  295,  296,  298,  310, 

312. 
Punishment,  37-42,  269. 

methods  of,  41-42. 

purpose  of,  37. 

theories  of,  37-41. 
Pure  sociology,  180,  220,  295,  299. 

defined,  4. 

relation  of  applied  sociology  to,  5, 12, 

"'  R 

Race  type,  83-84. 
Radicalism,  332. 
Railroads,  75,  149. 

Recreation,  14, 182, 183,  223,  297,  300- 
305- 

commercialization  of,  301-305. 

(See  also  Play.) 
Redemptioners,  62. 
Reform,  149,  172,  190,  267,  318,  328. 
Reformation,  37,  40,  269. 
Reformers,  27,  328. 
Reform  Parliament,  172. 
Relief,  167-176. 

indoor  and  outdoor,  171,  173,  174- 
176. 

public  and  private,  174-176. 
Religion,  199,  223,  296,  315-316. 

maladjustment  of,  310-324. 

modern  view  of,  317-319. 

origin  of,  15,  27,  28,  295. 
Rent,  105,  239-241. 
Reproduction,  importance  of,  198. 

significance  of,  276-277. 
Responsibility,  80,  149,  268-269,  306- 
309- 

female,  226,  273,  285-287. 

individual,  24,  33,  35,  47-50,  68-69, 
151,  165. 


Responsibility,  male,  222-223,  226. 

social,  133,  150,  168. 
Rest,  182. 
Retaliation,  38. 
Retribution,  37,  38. 
Revengefulness,  38. 
Reverence,  lack  of,  30. 
Revolutions,  theory  of,  285. 
Right,  27. 

Rights,  265-266,  273,  278-279,  308, 326. 
Rochdale  Pioneers,  127-128. 
Ross,  Edward  A.,  quoted,  143,  299. 
Ruskin,  John,  quoted,  312-313. 


Sabotage,  196. 
Saloons,  304-305.  310-311. 
Saving,  92,  105,  107,  109,  126,  191. 
Science,  317-318. 

divisions  of,  4. 

origin  of,  15. 
Scientific  method,  6-n. 
Seasonal  trades,  188. 
Segregation,  263. 
Self -gratification,  13. 
Selfishness,  148,  255. 
Self -maintenance,  12. 
Self-perpetuaton,  13. 
Self-respect,  162,  176,  189. 
Semple,  Ellen  C.,  quoted,  320. 
Settlement,  laws  of,  171,  173. 
Sex,  14,  275-277,  284,  287. 
Sex  difference,  276-277. 
Sexual  crime,  252-253. 
Sexual  immorality,  164,  250-264. 
Sexual  vice,  253-264. 
Sin,  26,  30,  32,  37,  38,  250. 

defined,  26-28. 

economic,  142-149. 

relativity  of,  251-252. 

sexual,  250,  252. 
Slavery,  62,  169,  194. 
Sliding  scale,  131-132. 
Smallpox,  245. 
Socialism,  190-194,  327. 

defined,  190. 

Social  legislation,  119,  132-133. 
Society,  standard  of  living  of,  85. 

devotion  to,  326-327. 
Sociologists,  practical,  5,  19,  23,  179. 
Sociology,  n. 

and  the  scientific  method,  6. 

defined,  2. 


352 


INDEX 


Sociology  ."definitions  of,  i. 

field  of,  3. 
Specialists,  8. 
Speculation,  71-72,  157. 
Spiritual   life.     (See   Intellectual   and 

Spiritual  Life.) 
Sports.     (See  Recreation.) 
Stage  of  the  arts,  207,  200-210. 

affecting  standard  of  living,  85. 
Standard  family,  83. 

budget  of,  105. 

Standard  of  living,  205-207,  200-212, 
219,  226-227. 

adequacy  of,  106-110. 

course  of,  110-117. 

defined,  82-84. 

ideal,  109-110. 

influence  of  immigration  upon,  233- 

234- 

of  a  social  class,  87-89. 
of  a  society,  85-87,  112. 
of  the  wage-earning  class,  80-00. 
two  meanings  of,  82. 
two  phases  of,  92-93. 
two  types  of,  84-85. 
State,  the,  29,  30,  36,  38,  119,  156,  168, 

199,  221,  263,  287,  306,  309,  315, 

325- 

Status,  48-50. 
Steam,  55,  57,  76. 
Steamships,  76. 
Sterilization,  41. 
Stigmata,  31. 

Streightoff,  Frank  H.,  quoted,  109. 
Strike,  general,  195,  196. 
Strikes,  124,  125. 
Struggle  for  existence,  45-46,  85. 
Suffrage,  woman,  278-285. 
Suicide,  246. 
Sumner,  William  G.,  20,  147,  223. 

quoted,  12,  13,  327-328. 
Survival  of  the  fittest,  50. 
Suspended  sentence,  42. 
Sweated  trades,  137. 
Sweatshop,  58. 
Syndicalism,  194-197. 
Syphilis,  260-261. 
"  System,'*"the,  146-147,  283-284. 


Teeth,  care  of,  107. 
Tenements,  239-241. 


Theft,  152. 

Theoretic   Sociology.    (See   Pure  So- 
ciology.) 

Thinking,  sinful,  250. 
Time  of  production,  71. 
Tobacco,  311-312. 

per  capita  consumption  in  United 

States,  1 8. 
Tool,  the,  53- 

distinction  between  machine  and,  56. 
Trade  unionism,  119,  120-125. 
Tradition,  255-256. 
Transportation,  47,  73-77. 
Treatment,  social,  24,  26,  29,  35. 

of  crime,  37. 

of  destitution,  scientific,  and  objec- 
tions, 176-180. 

of  incompetence,  42. 

of  juvenile  delinquents,  269. 

of  maladjustment,  184-185. 

of  sin,  36. 

of  vice,  42. 
Trust,  the,  67. 
Tuberculosis,  245-246. 
Typhoid  fever,  245. 

U 

Underpopulation,  211-213. 

defined,  211. 
Unemployment,  97,  136,  181,  186-189. 

defined,  187. 

Uniqueness  of  modern  economic  prob- 
lems, 80. 

Unworthy,  179-180. 
Urbanization,  78,  173,  234-241. 
Usury,  323. 
Utility,  6,  133. 

social,  37,  40. 


Vagrancy,  163. 
Vanity,  12,  13,  295,  297. 
Variation,  332. 
Vengeance,  41. 
Vice,  26,  33. 

defined,  31-33. 

economic,  155-158. 

of  self-gratification,  305-314. 

sexual,  253-264. 

treatment  of,  42. 
Vicious  circles,  165. 


INDEX 


353 


w 

Wages,  48,  53,  132,  135,  171,  258-259. 

nature  of,  61-62. 

of  children,  94,  100. . 

of  husband,  94. 

of  wife,  94,  100. 

real,  93. 

weekly,  94-96. 

yearly,  97~9Q. 

Wage  bargain,  48,  60-6 1,  63,  120. 
Wage  earners,  standard  of  living  of, 
80-90. 

number  of,  91-92. 
War,  77,  199,  327. 

industrial,  123-125. 
Ward,  Lester  F.,  quoted,  2,  4,  9,  13. 
Wealth,  140-141,  155,  191,   195,  312- 
314. 


Wealth,  gained  through  manufacture, 
54,  70-71- 

gained  through  trade,  75,  77. 
Welfare,  61,  89,  93,  113,  326. 
Welfare  work,  132-133. 
Western  Federation  of  Miners,  195. 
White  slavery,  260. 

Woman  labor,  101,  138-139,  224-227. 
Woman  movement.  (See  Feminism.) 
Woman  suffrage,  278-285. 

arguments  against,  282-285. 

arguments  for,  278-282. 
Woodruff,  Charles  E.,  quoted,  254. 
Work,  factory,  66. 

hours  of,  101. 

interest  in,  66-67,  101. 
Workhouses,  170,  172. 
Workhouse  test,  170-173. 
Worthy,  179-180. 


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Immigration 

A  World  Movement  and  Its  American  Significance 

BY  HENRY   PRATT  FAIRCHILD 

Assistant  Professor  of  the  Science  of  Society  in  Yale  University 

Cloth,  crown  8vo,  xi  +  455  pp.,  bibliog.,  index,  $7.75 

Professor  Fairchild  regards  immigration  not  merely 
as  an  American  public  problem,  but  as  a  sociological 
phenomenon  of  world-wide  significance.  While  the 
primary  viewpoint  is  that  of  the  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  it  is  pointed  out  that  there  are  a  number  of  inter- 
ests to  be  taken  into  account  aside  from  those  of  the 
native  American  workman,  or  even  of  the  American 
nation  as  a  whole.  The  immigration  question  is  set 
forth  as  part  of  an  inclusive  conservation  program  for 
all  humanity. 

The  laws  or  principles  which  underlie  the  great  type 
of  popular  movement  which  we  call  immigration  are 
relatively  constant  and  unchanging.  It  is  a  knowledge 
of  these  principles  which  fits  one  to  understand  the 
movement  in  its  ever-changing  aspects,  and  to  grapple 
with  it  as  a  problem  of  practical  politics  or  sociology. 
To  define  and  classify  the  concepts  involved,  to  set  forth 
clearly  the  laws  and  principles,  and  to  point  out  the 
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Cloth,  crown  octavo,  xv  +  477  pp.,  $1.75 

The  author  has  made  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  problems  of 
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planations of  its  causation,  and  which  will  at  least  furnish  the  start- 
ing point  for  an  effective  program  of  prevention. 

In  a  brief  introduction  are  discussed  the  organization  of  society 
and  pathological  social  conditions.  The  second  part  is  devoted  to 
an  extended  discussion  of  the  causes  and  conditions  of  poverty,  in 
which  the  author  has,  by  extensiveness  of  treatment,  placed  the  em- 
phasis on  the  two  fundamental  economic  problems,  namely,  those  of 
the  production  and  distribution  of  wealth.  Three  chapters  are  de- 
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Defectives ;  Eugenic  Measures ;  Thrift ;  Social  Insurance ;  The 
Raising  of  Wages  and  the  Regulation  of  Labor  Supply ;  The  Pro- 
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Outlines  of  Sociology 


BY  FRANK  W.  BLACKMAR 
Professor  of  Sociology  in  the  University  of  Kansas 

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JOHN  L.  GILLIN 
Associate  Professor  of  Sociology  in  the  University  of  Wisconsin 

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both  the  theoretical  and  the  so-called  "practical,"  finds  its 
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sometimes  resulting  from  a  study  of  one  phase  of  a  subject 
before  a  general  survey  has  been  made.  With  this  purpose 
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accepted  conclusions  of  sociologists  respecting  the  origin, 
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BY  WILLYSTINE  GOODSELL,  Pn.D. 

Assistant  Professor  of  Education  in  Teachers  College, 
Columbia  University 

588  pp.,  crown  octavo,  $2.00 

A  scholarly  review  of  the  conditions  and  changes  in  the 
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The  laws  and  customs  of  marriage,  including  the  evolution 
of  the  ceremony,  and  the  development  of  society's  attitude 
toward  the  breaking  of  the  marriage  vows  by  the  man  and 
the  woman,  are  described.  The  treatment  of  children,  their 
adoption  and  their  education  are  discussed.  The  economic 
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The  work  differs  from  previous  books  on  the  subject  which 
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the  social  worker.  Misery,  Dr.  Devine  believes,  lies  not 
in  the  unalterable  nature  of  things,  but  in  our  particular 
human  institutions,  our  social  arrangements,  our  tene- 
ments and  streets,  our  laws  and  courts  and  jails,  our 
religion,  our  education,  our  philanthropy,  our  politics, 
our  industry,  and  our  business.  Although  actual  condi- 
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The  Principles  of  Relief 


BY  EDWARD  T.   DEVINE,  PH.D.,  LL.D. 

Schiff  Professor  of  Social  Economy  in  Columbia  University 

General  Secretary  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society  of  New  York  City 

Editor  of  Charities  and  the  Commons 

Cloth,  495  pp.,  izmo,  $2.00 

"  Text-books  of  sociology  which  are  at  once  theoretical  and  prac- 
tical, aiding  alike  the  citizen  who  seeks  to  fulfil  intelligently  his 
duty  toward  the  dependent  classes  and  the  volunteer  or  profes- 
sional worker  in  any  branch  of  social  service,  are  rare  enough ;  and 
Dr.  Devine's  book  is  a  valuable  addition  to  this  class  of  literature. 
.  .  .  Comprehensive  in  scope,  and  masterly  in  treatment,  the  book 
shows  thorough  knowledge  of  all  phases  of  the  relief  problem  of  to- 
day ;  and  it  combines  with  the  student's  careful  presentation  of 
facts  as  they  are,  the  humanist's  vision  of  what  they  yet  may  be."  — 
Boston  Transcript. 

"  A  distinct  contribution  to  the  literature  of  scientific  philanthropy. 
It  marks  a  step  in  the  development  of  that  literature,  for  in  it  are 
brought  to  consciousness,  perhaps  for  the  first  time  fully,  the  under- 
lying principles  on  which  the  charity  organization  society  movement 
is  based.  Moreover,  it  undertakes  to  give  a  comprehensive  state- 
ment of  the  elementary  principles  upon  which  all  relief  giving, 
whether  public  or  private,  should  rest ;  and  it  correlates  these  prin- 
ciples with  the  general  facts  of  economics  and  sociology  in  such  a 
way  as  to  leave  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  that  the  author 
has  mastered  his  subject.  The  point  of  view  of  the  book  is  con- 
structive throughout,  as  its  author  evidently  intends ;  and  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  for  many  years  to  come  it  will  be,  both  for  the  practical 
worker  and  for  the  scientific  student,  the  authoritative  work  upon 
the  'Principles  of  Relief.'"  —  Annals  of  the  American  Academy. 

"  Independence,  eminent  common  sense,  a  logical  mind,  and  com- 
prehensive knowledge  of  subject-matter,  make  'Principles  of  Relief 
an  important  book."  —  Boston  Advertiser. 


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